On the other hand, the Court of Cassation canceled the 400,000 euros in damages that the Balkanys had to pay to the State. There will therefore be a new Balkany trial.
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The Balkany couple have their usufruct of the Moulin de Cossy in Giverny in Eure where they currently live confiscated, according to the judgment of the Court of Cassation that franceinfo was able to consult on Tuesday May 7. Via this decision, the Court of Cassation therefore confirms that of the Court of Appeal rendered in January 2023 in the context of the tax fraud laundering case in which the spouses are implicated.
Precisely, it is not the ownership of the 19th century building that is called into question, since the Mill and its four hectares of land have in fact belonged to the couple’s children for more than 20 years. Their parents, however, retain the usufruct, that is to say the right to enjoy the property without being its owner.
It is therefore the State which recovers the use of the premises. Note that the usufruct would have to be evaluated so that the State could offer to buy it back from the Balkany children. For their part, Patrick and Isabelle Balkany aged 75 and 76 do not intend to leave the premises.
A new Balkany trial
At the same time, the court of appeal also ordered the couple to pay 400,000 euros to the State for the sums spent to carry out the investigations in this case. On this point, the Court of Cassation will have to rule, the State having – according to the senior magistrates – not sufficiently justified itself. There will therefore be a new Balkany trial.
As a reminder, in January 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal sentenced Patrick and Isabelle Balkany to four and a half and three and a half years in prison respectively. Their lawyer explained on franceinfo that they would not return behind bars. This conviction nevertheless indicated that the former councilors of Levallois-Perret had once again been found guilty of hiding 13 million euros from the tax authorities.
Furthermore, the order at first instance to pay one million euros in damages to the State had been reduced to 400,000 euros by the court of appeal which had also confiscated the usufruct of the Moulin de Cossy, where the couple has been living for 40 years. Patrick Balkany then announced that he was appealing to the Supreme Court on this point.