BALKANY IN JAIL: BEHIND THE FALL | M6 | Enquête Exclusive

On Friday, September 13 2019, Patrick Balkany was sentenced to four years jail for tax fraud. The Mayor of Levallois (Hauts-de-Seine) was immediately incarcerated in the La Santé prison, Paris. Isabelle, his wife and first deputy-mayor was also sentenced: three years in jail, but released. For over a year, we followed the Balkany couple who, for more than thirty-five years, ruled over Levallois-Perret, a wealthy town to the west of Paris. With his rugby-player physique and film-star looks, Patrick Balkany rose to power and glory alongside his mentors, Charles Pasqua, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, his long-time friend. But the politician was also a money man. Now justice has caught up with him and he can’t escape jail. Judge Van Ruymbeke from the Paris court financial division accuses him, in particular, of embezzling thirteen million Euros for his own benefit by abusing his position as elected representative. After the rise, the triumph and the fortune, it’s now the start of the fall for the mayor of Levallois-Perret. It is this incredible saga, worthy of any adventure novel, that we relate in this original portrait. From Levallois to the island of Saint-Martin (Caribbean), by way of Marrakech (Morocco), where Patrick Balkany owned luxury villas, we investigated the extraordinary progress of the all-powerful mayor of Levallois. We reveal his early days at the city hall, his political career and his married life through contributions from his supporters and his friends (including Nadine Morano and television producer Stéphane Collaro) and from numerous archives, some never seen before, shot during his career.  Former colleagues, such as Didier Schuller, have also contributed to this documentary. Just before he was jailed, Patrick Balkany also granted us an exceptional exclusive interview. And we were also with his wife, Isabelle, a few hours after the court’s decision. An explosive documentary on one of the most controversial and most sensational political personalities of our time.