“They spent their time playing with fire. At some point, it’s very simple, when you play with fire, you get burned, ”said the public prosecutor of Évreux Dominique Puechmaille. “Before the revocation, there were many reframings for each of them which remained a dead letter,” she added.
The prosecutor did not wish to say more but Ouest-France revealed the content of the eight-page judgment dated February 3, in which the Rouen Court of Appeal details the multiple breaches of Isabelle Balkany, 74 years old. , to the obligations imposed on him as part of his conviction for tax evasion.
A finger of honor
The Balkany spouses “never accepted the constraints inherent in house arrest under electronic surveillance”, considers the court, which notes their “vehement or ironic attitude and remarks, sometimes outrageous or even outrageous” towards the staff of the prison. prison administration or the sentence enforcement judge.
On June 11, 2021, during an interview with the prison integration and probation service (Spip), Isabelle Balkany “had monopolized the floor and banged her fist on the table, addressed the director and the counselor […] by qualifying them as + chicks +, had given them an arm of honor and had unilaterally ended the meeting, ”report the judges.
On September 14, the Spip again mentions “the opposing, condescending, even outrageous attitude” of Balkany, who, questioned about four alarms of his electronic bracelet, evokes “car problems” or “the need to go shopping” . “For a quarter of an hour, they come to piss me off,” she replies to the prison staff. The former vice-president of the Hauts-de-Seine general council justifies seven other alarms by “hydrotherapy sessions forcing her to immerse the electronic bracelet in her bath”.
Even before the installation of the electronic bracelet, the former elected official had asked for the extension of her exit hours (8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends) as well as an extension of the perimeter of detention in order to “take out his three dogs every three hours and feed his three cats, his sheep and his hens” on a property of several hectares.
“Very comfortable income”
Above all, the Rouen Court of Appeal points out that the Balkany spouses did not respect their main obligation: “pay the sums due to public finances, and this despite” a “very large tax debt”. The former mayor (LR) of Levallois-Perret, 73, and his wife owe 5.3 million euros to the tax authorities, in addition to a sum of 766,759 euros specific to Isabelle Balkany.
However, they have “very comfortable incomes (more than 12,000 euros per month)” and could have “chosen to reduce their current lifestyle […] in order to settle the sums due”, underlines the court, which lists their residence of 500 m² in Giverny, a “pied-à-terre” in Levallois and “a full-time domestic employee”.
“It’s impossible for them to respect something,” commented Arnaud de Courson, historical opponent (DVD) to the Balkany in Levallois. “It’s still convicted people who don’t follow the rules. They stole from the public coffers and in addition they do not respect their sentence. »
It was only two days before the hearing before the Rouen Court of Appeal that Isabelle Balkany offered to pay 500 euros per month to the Public Treasury to reimburse the sums due for tax evasion.
Isabelle Balkany was still hospitalized in Évreux on Friday morning, according to her husband, who said she had attempted suicide on Thursday. “She is in the coaltar,” he assured. According to a judicial source, she “swallowed significant amounts of her usual treatment”. It is unlikely that the spouses will be incarcerated on Friday, according to the same source.
The Rouen Court of Appeal confirmed Thursday, February 3, the revocation of the placement under an electronic bracelet of the ex-mayor LR of Levallois-Perret, 73, and his wife, 74, decided in December by the court of application of the sentences of Évreux.