Mr. Balkany was interviewed "a good part of the day" at the Economic Crime Repression Brigade (BRDE), sources familiar with the matter told AFP, confirmed by the Nanterre prosecutor's office.

This investigation, opened in 2016 for concealment of embezzlement of public funds then for embezzlement of public funds and illegal taking of interest, relates to the situation of an adviser to the former city councilor.

The latter, Renaud Guillot-Corail, died in 2020. He was employed by the municipality of Levallois as director of economic development until October 2012. After his retirement, he continued to receive remuneration.

The investigators suspect him of having thus benefited from concealment of embezzlement of public funds, organized by Patrick Balkany under the guise of an association.

Mr. Guillot-Corail would have received more than 300,000 euros between 2012 and 2018, specifies a source close to the file.

The preliminary investigation was therefore gradually extended to include counts of embezzlement of public funds and illegal taking of interest, until the free hearing of Mr. Balkany on Thursday.

"Nothing to see"

"We dispute any infringement. The schedule of this investigation alone demonstrates the weakness of it", reacted to AFP the lawyers of Mr. Balkany, Romain Dieudonné and Robin Binsard.

"Why come in 2023 to investigate such old facts and for which the main interested party died? Move around there is nothing to see!", They assured.

The former mayor of Levallois-Perret Patrick Balkany (c) arrives on October 25, 2022 at the Paris court © Alain JOCARD / AFP / Archives

The "hidden situation" of this adviser had been pinpointed in a report published in 2016 by the regional chamber of accounts of Île-de-France.

The latter had issued a report to the courts, soon followed by a Tracfin note on the same subject, resulting in the opening of the ongoing investigation.

In its report, the chamber noted that Renaud Guillot-Corail had remained the leader of a "satellite association of the municipality, the amount of the subsidy for which has also increased significantly".

The chamber also noted that he still had an office, "next to that of the mayor", and a "dedicated assistant".

Patrick Balkany, who was mayor of Levallois for thirty years and deputy, is currently being prosecuted in two other cases in Nanterre.

In that called "drivers", he was indicted in July 2020 for "embezzlement of public property or funds by a person holding public authority".

He is accused of having used municipal police officers as drivers and vehicles for private purposes.

This judicial investigation had been closed in April 2021 but Mr. Balkany had requested the cancellation of his indictment, a request rejected by the investigating chamber in December 2021. The prosecution can now take its requisitions.

The former elected representatives of Levallois-Perret Patrick and Isabelle Balkany during a meeting of their party, Les Républicains, for the regional elections, on December 9, 2015 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, in the Hauts-de-Seine © Miguel MEDINA / AFP/Archives

Mr. Balkany has also been prosecuted since February 2021 for "abuse of corporate assets", "illegal taking of interests" and "embezzlement of public funds", suspected of having fraudulently used a building belonging to the city of Levallois.

Judicial investigation still in progress.

Finally, he was recently sentenced for laundering tax evasion.

He was found guilty of having, with his wife and ex-first assistant Isabelle Balkany, concealed between 2007 and 2014 some 13 million euros in tax assets, including two sumptuous villas in the Caribbean and Morocco.

In May 2020, Mr. and Mrs. Balkany were sentenced on appeal to five and four years' imprisonment respectively, as well as a fine of 100,000 euros each and 10 years of ineligibility.

In early January, this sentence was reduced on appeal to four and three and a half years in prison.

© 2023 AFP