Rogue trader Jerome Kerviel refused to return to France on Sunday ahead of a midnight deadline to begin a three-year prison term and called for President Francois Hollande to intervene in his case. The 37-year-old, who brought one of Europe's biggest banks to the brink of bankruptcy in 2008, has spent the last two months on a walk from Rome intended to raise awareness of what he regards as his unfair treatment by the courts.
The Paris prosecutor's office warned in a statement that if Kerviel did not show up to start serving his sentence by midnight Sunday "he will be considered a fugitive" and a Europe-wide warrant would be issued for his arrest.
However the former Societe Generale trader said he would not be crossing the border until he heard back from Hollande on his case.
"I am staying here for now," Kerviel told reporters outside a hotel in the Italian border town of Ventimiglia, where he spent the past two nights. "I am waiting to hear the position of the president of the republic."
Kerviel says he wishes to detail to Hollande "the serious failings" that led to his conviction, following the loss of nearly five billion euros through wildly risky trades.
The former trader says he is not seeking a pardon, but has asked Hollande to grant immunity to potential witnesses who could testify in his favour. Kerviel continues to maintain that the bank was just as much at fault as he was.
However he denies being a fugitive from justice and said he was ready to serve his sentence.
His lawyers said they would be heading to Paris Sunday evening and would be "available" to discuss the case with the president or his staff.
Contacted by AFP, Hollande's office said no meeting was on the agenda and stressed that the president would "respect the decisions taken by French courts".
Kerviel was tramping through Tuscany when France's top appeals court in March upheld his 2010 conviction for breach of trust, forgery and entering false data in relation to unauthorised deals that nearly brought his former employer down.
The ruling left Kerviel, who served 41 days in pre-trial detention in 2008, liable to be imprisoned at any time within five years of the verdict. Kerviel's defence lawyers asked the state prosecution to suspend the application of his sentence.
"There is no urgency in jailing him, other than to silence him," said the statement.
The ex-trader has become something of a cause celebre in France, winning support from prominent left-wingers and leading figures in the Roman Catholic Church who believe he has been unfairly made a scapegoat for the shortcomings of the entire banking system.
One of his supporters, the priest Patrice Gourrier, who has been walking at his side, has said he would fast until the sentence was suspended.
"I will go all the way with him. I know it is impossible that Jerome acted alone," said the priest. "I want to draw attention to this economic barbarism which is destroying men and women."
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