Nanterre (AFP)

Two days after their conviction on appeal to three years in prison and ten years of ineligibility for tax fraud, the mayor LR of Levallois-Perret Patrick Balkany and his wife and first assistant Isabelle, were removed from their mandate, announced Friday at the AFP the Hauts-de-Seine prefecture.

"The two resignation orders were notified to the spouses today," said the Prefecture. The Paris Court of Appeal ordered on Wednesday the "provisional execution" of the additional ineligibility sentence, which marks the end of their reign at the head of the wealthy town of Hauts-de-Seine, delighted there are over 30 years to the Communists.

It is the second deputy mayor, Jean-Yves Cavallini, who will temporarily take over as head of the town hall, one week before the first round of the municipal elections.

"We would like to warmly thank the magistrates for this sanction, as useless (since we were not candidates for the municipal elections) as voluntarily humiliating for facts having nothing to do with the management, for 37 years of the city ..." reacted Mrs. Balkany on her Facebook account, mocking the "very unusual speed" of the prefecture.

Joined by AFP, her husband judged him "the order of the normal prefecture, because there is the judgment of the court of appeal".

Justice criticized the spouses of 71 and 72 years old for not having paid a wealth tax (ISF) between 2010 and 2015, despite assets estimated at 16 million euros minimum. But also to have paid a largely undervalued income tax between 2009 and 2014.

In total, the sums evaded are estimated at 4 million euros, an amount vigorously contested by the defense.

"In the unconscious of people, the era of the Balkany is over," welcomed AFP Arnaud de Courson, historical opponent of the Balkany and candidate (DVD) for mayor.

"It is time to write a new chapter, the page has already been turned", also welcomed AFP the head of the LREM list, Maud Bregeon.

Elected for the first time in 1983 in Levallois, Patrick Balkany is inseparable from his wife, Isabelle, with whom he has been married since 1976.

Together, they made Levallois, the former red suburb run by the Communists, an affluent residential commune where industrial wasteland gave way to luxury residences.

Their judicial marathon, however, is not over: the court of appeal will render its decision on April 22 in the money laundering section: the public prosecutor's office has requested four years firm against him and two years firm against it, for having concealed 13 million euros to the tax authorities between 2007 and 2014.

© 2020 AFP