Balkany trial: the second blade of justice

The honor is more or less safe, notwithstanding a last swallow of five years of imprisonment. This Friday afternoon, the Criminal Court of Paris has relieved Patrick Balkany of the crime of corruption, but has however sentenced for aggravated money laundering tax fraud, "Structured and efficient" according to the judges. For the record, the mayor (LR) of Levallois-Perret had already been sentenced, on September 13, to four years in prison for tax evasion, with a warrant of deposit (the appeal will be held from December 11 to December 18, announced Friday night BFM TV). Unwilling to be handcuffed by the photographers in the corridors of the new Parisian courthouse, Patrick Balkany preferred not to be removed from his cell in the prison of Health to listen to the second judgment.

Read alsoBalkany, from the chair bar to the real bars

"Contractual obligations"

Good point for the Balkany spouses: the court considers that it is not "Fully demonstrated a pact of corruption" linking them to a Saudi billionaire, Sheikh Al-Jaber, real estate developer considering building two office towers in Levallois. The man, also pursued but not present at the bar, is not suspected of having paid a bribe to the mayor in order to obtain his building permit, but more prosaically to have fired some 2, $ 5 million to get a postponement of the site, which will never see the light of day. The judgment states that "Mr. Balkany reminded Mr. Al-Jaber of his contractual obligations. " Understand: they were not ass and shirt. In the same vein, the court overrides the provision of the private jet of the second to the benefit of the first, retaining a return trip to the Caribbean without more criminal consequences. "This is not an illegal capture of interest," believe the judges.

Isabelle Balkany tried to look good after the judgment: "There is no corruption, not a penny of public money." But what about bleaching, private tricks? Already sentenced for tax evasion, the Balkany spouses suffered a second layer, for procedural reasons – the Swiss, Panamanian or Liechtenstein justices agree to cooperate in international money laundering, but not in cases of tax fraud, which is not a offense in their eyes, hence the sausage of the case.

And the chopper fell, to listen or read the judgment: "Long-term roots in remunerative crime", "lucrative behavior of elected representatives of the nation". It's money laundering, a catch-all offense. We come back to the riad of Marrakech, which no one knows – including the French justice, at least at this stage of the criminal proceedings – who would be the authentic holder. The assembly allows to go back to two offshore companies registered in Panama, whose rightful claimant is Jean-Pierre Aubry, handyman of the couple at the town hall of Levallois. The latter denies owning the property, while clearing the Balkany husbands; the court sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended for lack of a better sentence.

Confiscation of the riad of Marrakech

The Balkans, however, only appear as modest casual renters – despite a bathrobe with the initials "P.B." in the bathroom. Alexander Balkany, their son, also pretending to be a tenant without ever setting foot, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended sentence, minimum penalty "Given a very particular intrafamilial context". Sheikh Al-Jaber, whose check has enabled the acquisition of the property in question, also declines any title. There is also Arnaud Claude, a historical partner of Nicolas Sarkozy in a law firm, who has helped the gas plant: three years in prison suspended – he took the lead, giving up the lawyer and passing the baton to his son, but the former President of the Republic remains a shareholder of their cabinet.

"Someone is lying in this case," pointed out the president of the correctional court during the trial. One would be tempted to specify: all, but each in their turn, in a more or less organized defense … Without more precision, the judgment rendered Friday also orders the "confiscation" of that damn riad of Marrakech, whose devil knows who is the real taulier.

As for Isabelle Balkany, the court imposed four years in prison without immediate imprisonment, "His health being incompatible with detention". In fact, her suicide attempt prevented her from attending the trial, but not from succeeding her husband, once he was detained in early September. At the judgment, she burst into tears in the arms of her lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur. The two husbands Balkany were sentenced again to ten years of ineligibility. And will appeal the judgment, announced their lawyers.

Renaud Lecadre