Has justice just put an end to the story that has linked the Balkany couple and the city of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) since the early 1980s? Probably. Wednesday May 27, the Paris Court of Appeal sentenced Patrick and Isabelle Balkany, former mayor and first deputy of this city of 65,000 inhabitants, respectively to five and four years in prison. Without however pronouncing immediate incarceration.
The couple were being chased for having concealed 13 million euros in tax revenue, between 2007 and 2014, including two sumptuous villas, in Saint-Martin and Marrakech, masked by a string of offshore companies.
Income estimated at € 10,000 per month
He was also given ten years of ineligibility and, for Patrick Balkany only, a final ban on holding office in an organization managing public funds. The confiscation of their property is confirmed.
The Court of Appeal also confirmed that the Balkanys would have to pay, jointly and severally with the other defendants in this money laundering case, one million euros in damages to the State, civil party. A decision disproportionate
, according to counsel for Isabelle Balkany, Me Pierre-Olivier Sur. Despite the confiscations, the personal situation of the Balkany spouses will allow them to live in dignified conditions
, note on the contrary the judges who recall that according to the couple’s own estimates, without any elective mandate, their income will still amount to just over 10,000 € per month.
Personal benefits
Finally, the Court of Appeal condemned the former mayor of Levallois-Perret, 71, for illegal taking of interest: that is to say, for having benefited personal benefits
in kind from a Saudi real estate developer, Mohamed al Jaber, as part of a real estate project, negotiated with the city, which included the construction of two towers. It is this promoter in particular who had paid part of the sum allowing the acquisition of the villa of Marrakech (nearly 3.1 million euros).
In the end, the real estate project never came to fruition and the Saudi businessman had been ordered to pay 15 million euros to the mixed economy company managing the real estate projects of the city of Levallois-Perret (Semarelp) . However, the latter had, in 2015, renounced to claim this sum. We would like to understand why the city and Semarelp did not seek to recover this sum. Is this related to the benefits perceived by the mayor?
, wonders Dominique Tiger, of the Levallois taxpayer association.
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