INTERVIEW
The mayor of Levallois-Perret Patrick Balkany was sentenced Friday in Paris to five years in prison for money laundering, with a warrant of deposit, but was relaxed with regard to corruption. This was the second installment of the 71-year-old Baron des Hauts-de-Seine trial. His wife, Isabelle Balkany, was also sentenced to four years in prison without a warrant. Antoine Vey, one of his lawyers of the Mayor of Levallois-Perret with Eric Dupont-Moretti, reacted to the verdict at the microphone in Europe 1. He considers the sentence passed against his disproportionate client.
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"On the one hand, we are told that there is no corruption, no influence peddling, but above all what this judgment says is that there is absolutely no one euro of money public that would have been diverted to the benefit of the Balkany couple, "said Antoine Vey.
"Patrick Balkany has absolutely nothing to do in detention"
"The other decision is the logical consequence of the first Yes, there has been money laundering tax fraud, but what is a bit incomprehensible is the heaviness of this sentence," says he at the micro of Europe 1. "This is an innovation in jurisprudence and it seems to take root that they are public figures who were elected in their city, but the law is the same for all" says the lawyer , who does not understand why the Balkany husbands were "harshly repressed on this aspect".
"Patrick Balkany has absolutely nothing to do in detention," says the lawyer, who wants a release of his client so that he can prepare his defense "freely and adversely" before the Court of Appeal in the next months.