The former mayor of the commune of Hauts-de-Seine, convicted of tax fraud and embezzlement of public funds, asked the courts to reverse his sentence which prevents him from participating in the next municipal elections, according to information from BFMTV.
We weren't expecting him, but he's back. Patrick Balkany took legal action to overturn his 10-year sentence of ineligibility that he has been serving since 2019 for tax fraud and money laundering. This request was filed on October 25, according to BFMTV, which revealed the information this Thursday. The former LR mayor of Levallois-Perret wishes to run for this position again in the next elections, in 2026. By then he will have completed his four and a half years in prison (served with a modified sentence since 2022), but will not be at the end of his sentence of ineligibility.
“It was already five years ago. I was in prison for almost a year and wore an electronic bracelet. And with Isabelle, we repay 1,300 euros to the tax authorities every month. So, yes, I asked that the penalty of ineligibility stop so that I could represent myself,” confirms the main interested party to BFM.
He hopes to replace the current mayor, Agnès Pottier-Dumas, former chief of staff of Patrick Balkany and supported by Les Républicains and the UDI during the municipal campaign in 2020. She was dropped between the two rounds by the Balkany after having affirmed that they would not have “no role at Levallois town hall, no role within any city department or in any of its satellites”, while these were at the heart of numerous legal disputes.
New trial requested in 2024
With his wife Isabelle Balkany, this figure from Hauts-de-Seine was involved in numerous cases of tax fraud, corruption and money laundering. In 2019, he was sentenced to a 100,000 euro fine and four years in prison for tax evasion and five years for money laundering. The former councilor labeled LR was finally released after appealing, the opportunity to scour the television sets to complain about his sentence. The couple was finally sentenced on appeal to a slightly reduced sentence, 4 and a half years for him and 3 and a half years for her.
At the beginning of 2023, he was again questioned by the Brigade for the Repression of Economic Delinquency (BRDE) for suspicion of embezzlement of public funds organized under the guise of an association. In May 2024, yet another twist in the Balkany legal case: the courts decide on a new trial in order to assess the damages awarded to the State. Until now, the former mayor of Levallois-Perret has always proclaimed his innocence, despite the accumulation of evidence and legal decisions.
