But on Friday, a Paris judge sentenced Patrick Balkany to another five years in prison for laundering the proceeds of the tax fraud. He refused to leave his Paris prison cell for the hearing. His wife, who is also aged 71 and who took over as interim Levallois mayor following his incarceration, received a four-year sentence Friday for money laundering but again was not taken into custody. The court cleared Patrick Balkany of corruption, ruling that investigators had failed to prove that he received a Moroccan villa from a Saudi millionaire in return for favourable treatment in a property deal. Patrick Balkany also represented the Hauts-de-Seine region, where Levallois is located, in the National Assembly for many years.

Source: The Local October 18, 2019 15:00 UTC