Here they are again before the judges. In ten months, it is a fourth trial that the Balkany spouses face from Monday. Last May and June, there were trials for tax fraud on the one hand, and laundering of tax fraud on the other. In this second case, Patrick Balkany also responded to corruption and illegal taking of interest. Heavily condemned, Levallois' spouses both appealed. This is why they were tried again in December for tax evasion. And are now for laundering of aggravated tax fraud.
While at first instance the two cases had been grouped, the judicial calendar did not allow the same organization for appeal trials. Patrick Balkany having been imprisoned since September 13 for tax evasion - the criminal court had condemned him to four years firm with warrant of deposit -, he had to be retried within four months. It was impossible for the Court of Appeal to schedule a hearing of several weeks including the two parts of the case in December. This is why tax fraud was the subject of a hearing three days before Christmas. For the second part, the deadline could run until April.
Only to be judged. Only Patrick and Isabelle Balkany are retried from Monday. At trial, there were six to appear for laundering of aggravated tax fraud and or corruption. There was Alexander Balkany, the couple's son, sentenced to six months suspended prison sentence for signing fictitious rental contracts. The aim was to appear as the official tenant of the Marrakech riad, which the judges had previously considered was the property of the Balkany couple. Alexandre Balkany has not appealed against his conviction, the prosecution either.
Same thing for the lawyer Arnaud Claude, sentenced to three years suspended prison for having notably organized the offshore financial arrangement for the acquisition of the riad. As for Jean-Pierre Aubry, faithful among the faithful, he served as a nominee, appearing as the beneficiary of Panamanian companies, including the one that owned the Moroccan villa. He also did not appeal his three-year suspended sentence.
Patrick Balkany was not tried again for corruption. A last defendant was tried in this second part of the case: Mohamed Bin Al Jaber, a Saudi businessman who appeared for active bribery, while Patrick Balkany was prosecuted for passive bribery. This is the case of the twin towers that the Saudi wanted to build in Levallois. At the end of the investigation, the judges considered that Patrick Balkany had touched a large bakchich to allow Al Jaber to carry out his project. But the criminal court found that the prosecution did not provide evidence of corruption. Balkany and Al Jaber were released. The prosecution has not appealed the acquittals, according to what it confirmed last week.
However, the prosecution intends to support the accusation of illegal taking of interest against Patrick Balkany, suspected of having benefited from the private jet of the Saudi businessman.
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What they risk. In theory, ten years' imprisonment, without counting huge fines and the ineligibility to which they have already been sentenced at first instance. Patrick Balkany was sentenced to five years for laundering of aggravated tax fraud. His wife, Isabelle, four years old. The court had spared the prison to the latter because of her state of health. The court of appeal will render its decision probably several weeks after the end of the trial. But the Balkanys await a first deliberation from the court of appeal on March 4. On this day, the magistrates will render their decision in the first case, that of tax fraud. The penalties required are heavy: four years firm, still with a warrant, against Patrick Balkany. Four years, half of which is suspended for his wife.
Patrick Balkany announced absent. Incarcerated in the Health remand center since September 13, Patrick Balkany is very weak. Her health has deteriorated. Since December 12, he has been regularly hospitalized, for longer or shorter stays. And Isabelle Balkany says: “Patrick is unable to come. Physically, psychologically, intellectually, he cannot. Result, she will be alone before the Court of Appeal, as during the trial in December, where Patrick Balkany only appeared half a day in the box. Last May and June, he was the only one before the judges, after his wife had swallowed too much medicine.
An uncertain start to the audience. The lawyers of the Paris bar, to which Mr. Romain Dieudonné and the former Bâtonnier Pierre-Olivier Sur belong, are still on strike to protest against the pension reform. The Paris bar is calling for a demonstration this Monday.