Sentenced on appeal in March 2020 to three years in prison for tax evasion, the Balkany spouses were placed under an electronic bracelet in early 2021. But, last December, this modification of the sentence was revoked after a hundred incidents recorded. The couple appealed against the decision.
Monday January 3 Dominique Puechmaille, prosecutor of Evreux, confirmed this information revealed initially by Mediapart.
Asked by the investigative media, the lawyer of Patrick and Isabelle Balkany, Me Pierre-Olivier Sur, explained that “there were a hundred incidents of ringing, and a little flippancy” on the part of the couple.
Assigned to residence in Giverny
Both are serving their sentences in their property at the Cossy mill, in Giverny (Eure), and are subject to exit schedules. “They are not allowed to leave the house, but when the dog comes out, they run after, when the postman passes, they go to the gate” … and thus trigger the surveillance device.
According to the lawyer, adjustments have been made since, “so that there is no more incident”. Since the prosecution considered that the appeal, lodged on December 23, “was suspensive”, the couple keeps their electronic bracelets for the time being. The Evreux prosecutor did not specify when the file will be examined again by the courts.
Before being placed under house arrest, Patrick Balkany was imprisoned in the Health prison at the end of 2019, then released five months later for health reasons. In February 2021, he was indicted three times in another investigation into suspicions of fraudulent use of premises belonging to the city of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine), of which he was the mayor for many years. .