Condemned for money laundering, the former mayor of Levallois-Perret and his wife were sentenced to four and a half and three years in prison respectively. Justice has ordered the confusion of penalties with those, three years old, received in 2020.
by Henri Seckel
More than three and a half years after their first visit to the Paris Criminal Court responsible for examining their tax crimes, Patrick and Isabelle Balkany, 74 and 75 years old, lived, on Monday, January 9, a new important stage, but Not yet completely the epilogue, of a legal journey so long that it may be useful to recall the previous episodes.
Judged in May and June 2019 for “tax fraud” and “money laundering of tax fraud”, the former mayor (Les Républicains) of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) had been sentenced to four years in prison in The first file, and at five years in the second. For these same facts, his wife – and former assistant – had been sentenced to three years and four years. The couple had appealed.
At the end of the second trial for “tax fraud” in 2020, both had been sentenced to three years in prison, a final judgment for lack of cassation appeal. In the “money laundering” component, their five -year -old and four -year penalties had been confirmed on appeal, as well as the confiscation of their real estate, including their main residence of Giverny (Eure).
The two spouses had then made an appeal before the Court of Cassation, which had confirmed their guilt, but estimated that the confiscation of the house of Giverny was illegal, Patrick and Isabelle Balkany having only the usufruct since ‘They ceded the bare ownership to their children in 1997. The highest French jurisdiction had therefore ordered a new trial, which was held on October 25, 2022, relating only to the sentences pronounced in the “whitening” component .
Defense obtains the confusion of sentences
These were reduced by the Paris Court of Appeal on Monday: from five years and four years in prison, they went to four and a half years for him, three and a half years for her. The defense has also obtained the confusion of these sorrows with those of three years for “tax fraud”: they no longer add up – the seconds blend in the first -, which has the consequence, according to the lawyers of the Balkany spouses , that their customers will not return to prison.
If Isabelle has always escaped there for medical reasons, Patrick had been imprisoned from September 2019 to February 2020, before being released under electronic bracelet for health reasons, then returning to detention from February to August 2022, consequence of ‘A very random respect for his house arrest.
The Paris Court of Appeal also confirmed, Monday, the ten years of ineligibility and the 100,000 euros initially pronounced against each of the two spouses, but it reduced the amount of damages that ‘They will have to pay the State: from 1 million euros, it increases to 400,000 euros.
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