Justice 0, Patrick Balkany 1. Decidedly, the Balkany couple is not the type to stop at a court decision. Like our colleagues from Parisian reveal this Saturday, February 5, 2022, Patrick Balkany seems to have found a way not to go back behind bars. The politician today released a health certificate written by a professor of digestive surgery which states that “the state of health of Mr Patrick Balkany is medically incompatible with his detention“.
On the document unveiled by the Parisian, we can also read, “in conclusion, the state of health of Mr Patrick Balkany remains very precarious and requires close and regular medico-surgical gastroenterological, cardiological and rheumatological follow-up, medically incompatible with his detention“. However, this certificate does not yet mean that Patrick Balkany is off the hook. The Evreux Court of Appeal will undoubtedly request its own forensic expertise to confirm the statements of the fallen politician’s personal doctor. … and if his condition is compatible with detention. As a reminder, there is a hospital-prison in Fresnes…
The couple’s conviction for tax evasion was confirmed on March 4, 2020 by the Paris Court of Appeal, accompanied by a three-year prison sentence. It was this first part of a vast tax evasion procedure that led to their placement under an electronic bracelet in March 2021. At the same time, the couple was also sentenced at the end of 2019 for having hidden 13 million euros in assets in the tax between 2007 and 2014. The Paris Court of Appeal is due to re-examine the quantum of the sentences on February 9, but the dismissal of this trial is “probable”, according to a source familiar with the matter.