Levallois-Perret (AFP)

Isabelle Balkany chaired her last municipal council on Thursday evening in Levallois-Perret before the elections, in the absence of her husband Patrick, of whom she read a letter the day after her release after five months in detention for tax evasion and aggravated money laundering.

The inhabitants had come in large numbers to say "goodbye" to the Balkany couple, who have announced in recent months that they will not be running for municipal elections in March. Patrick Balkany, 71, headed this wealthy town in western Paris for over 30 years until his incarceration last September.

Mrs. Balkany, 72, the first assistant who took over from her husband at the town hall, arrived at the municipal council with long applause from the public.

During a session in which she did not hesitate to run away with the opposition, Isabelle Balkany thanked her assistants and the residents. "I haven't really been mayor for a long time but I really liked it," she concluded.

Patrick Balkany (LR) was sentenced at first instance in September and October to four years in prison for tax evasion with immediate imprisonment, then to five years for aggravated money laundering. His wife and first assistant had been given three years and then four years in prison, without a warrant.

They will know the decision of the court of appeal in the tax fraud component on March 4 and April 22 in the money laundering component.

The couple decided not to run for a sixth term at the town hall, not without denouncing the confiscation of universal suffrage by the courts.

Patrick Balkany was released Wednesday from Health prison in Paris, released on decision of the Paris Court of Appeal for health reasons.

"My health has really deteriorated, from day to day I was walking less well, I was dizzy and I felt like I was going slowly towards the end of life," he explained on Thursday RTL.

"I really had the feeling that I was going to die in prison slowly (...) A man my age does not tolerate this long incarceration," he said.

He added that Nicolas Sarkozy had been the first to call him after his release, while he was still in the car: "He has always been my friend. He told me that he was happy that I was got out".

© 2020 AFP