Recognized as definitively guilty of this offence, the former mayor LR and the former first deputy of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) must be retried with the sole issue of the quantum of their sentences, after a decision of the Court of cassation.
This is a separate procedure from that which led to Patrick Balkany being reincarcerated on Monday.
On Wednesday morning, the Paris Court of Appeal postponed the trial until the fall, for scheduling issues and because of the impossibility for Isabelle Balkany, hospitalized since Thursday, to appear.
Atypically, the courts examined the Balkany case in two phases: one devoted to tax evasion, the other to money laundering as well as suspicions of illegal taking of interests and corruption - the latter being ultimately discarded.
In the second part, Patrick and Isabelle Balkany were sentenced on May 27, on appeal, to five and four years in prison.
They had been convicted of having concealed between 2007 and 2014 some 13 million euros in tax assets, including two sumptuous villas in the Caribbean and Morocco.
Patrick Balkany had also been sentenced for illegal taking of interests, the court having considered that he had benefited from "personal advantages" in kind within the framework of a large real estate contract of the city.
Patrick Balkany arrives at Fleury-Mérogis prison on February 7, 2022 after the revocation of his placement under an electronic bracelet Thomas COEX AFP
The former elected officials had lodged an appeal in cassation and, on June 30, 2021, the high court rejected their appeal concerning guilt, making it final.
On the other hand, the Court of Cassation considered that the Court of Appeal had not correctly applied the law by pronouncing the confiscation of the mill of Cossy, in Giverny (Eure), where the couple still lives, as well as by determining the amount of damages for the State (one million euros).
The Court therefore ordered a new trial limited to the amount of the penalties.
In the tax fraud section, the penalties of three years in prison pronounced on March 4, 2020 are final.
The couple had been purging them so far under an electronic bracelet, but on Monday, Patrick Balkany, 73, joined the Fleury-Mérogis prison (Essonne), after multiple breaches of his obligations.
His wife, 74, also had her bracelet revoked.
His situation must be decided at a later date.
They had been found guilty of not having paid wealth tax between 2010 and 2015 and of having paid grossly undervalued income tax between 2009 and 2014, for an estimated total of 4 million euros in are eluded.
© 2022 AFP