French police on Friday questioned a share broker over his links with Jerome Kerviel, the rogue trader whose unauthorised deals at Societe Generale led to losses of 4.8 billion euros (7.1 billion dollars), officials said.
The broker works for Societe Generale's brokerage subsidiary Fimat and a source close to the inquiry told AFP he was being questioned about his dealings with Kerviel.
The man was detained on Thursday and police also raided a brokerage as part of the investigation, the source said. It was the first time police have indicated they may have evidence of a possible accomplice, though the unnamed broker's lawyer, Jean-David Scemama, said he had no worries about his client's position.
The detention came ahead of an appeal court hearing Friday in which a judge will rule whether to place Kerviel in detention. The 31-year-old trader was freed on January 28 after being charged with breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers.
However the state prosecutor has appealed against his release, citing the danger that Kerviel might communicate with witnesses. "The investigation has to be conducted calmly and without any risk of concertation with third parties," said Ulrika Weiss, spokeswoman for the state prosecutor's office.
Kerviel was detained for questioning on January 26, at the end of a week in which Societe Generale revealed it had fallen victim to the biggest rogue trading scandal in banking history.
The trader admitted that he had exceeded his authority to place some 50 billion euros (73 billion dollars) of wagers on the European derivatives market, falsifying emails and faxes in order to fool the bank's internal controls. The trades were unwound by the bank during the major falls in world stocks of January 21 and 22, leading to massive losses and leaving Societe Generale dangerously exposed to a take-over bid.