INTERVIEW
The mayor of Levallois-Perret, Patrick Balkany, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison, with money order, for laundering but was relaxed on corruption. Isabelle Balkany, who takes over her husband's mayor, was sentenced to four years in prison without a warrant. "Isabelle Balkany came out of the court saying: 'I'm alive'," said Pierre-Olivier Sur, at the microphone of Europe 1, Friday, in Le Grand Journal du soir .
He then returned to the nature of the judgment, from which he retains two aspects: "The first thing is that there is no misappropriation of public funds and there is no corruption. no public money has been diverted or stolen by Isabelle and Patrick Balkany, contrary to what all fantasies could have imagined to each other and in particular to the press.After that, Isabelle Balkany was condemned very heavily but for facts relating to the succession of his parents ".
"There is no question of talking about victory"
Can we say little victory for the couple relaxed corruption facts? "There is no question of talking about victory," retorted the lawyer. "Let's stop saying that the Balkany couple is the system of corruption in Levallois-Perret that was going to be tried in the tribunal de grande instance of paris.It is not true.They are relaxed for corruption, they are relaxed for the misappropriation of public money and my client is convicted of laundering tax evasion with a very heavy sentence.It seems disproportionate, which requires and justifies an appeal.The Court of Appeal will now consider whether tax evasion, which concerns facts that go back to 31 years, deserves a firm prison ".
The Balkany husbands were also sentenced to ten years of ineligibility. However, the judgment is not enforceable, which means that Isabella Balkany can, for the moment, retain her title of interim mayor: "I do not want to make any political projections, I am simply saying that she was sentenced very heavily but for now, she can continue to exercise her mandates and in particular that of acting mayor of Levallois as part of a city she loves, a city where she is loved, a city that opposes the court decisions rendered ".
"Today, Isabelle Balkany is determined to fight"
Asked about the state of health of her client, who made a suicide attempt last May, Ms. Sur was reassuring: "She is alive, she is alive, she knew the pangs of suicide a few years ago. Today, she is determined to fight, to take things in hand ... Justice has just said and judge that there is no corruption, there is no embezzlement The game is now winnable in the courts. "
The lawyer also said that it was not the Balkany couple that was targeted but rather the old world: "Through the Balkany couple, the old world is concerned. the new world, with a sort of dialogue of the deaf giving rise to disproportionate penalties.It is not the Balkany that we wanted to pay, it is a political system.