Surreptitious recording revives Kerviel case

“When you talk about it, honestly everbody in the financial world is laughing, they know that Société Générale knew. The Société Générale knew, knew. It’s obvious, obvious,” former judge Chantal de Leiris said in June 2015.

In broadcasted extracts, De Leiris has talked about existing relationships during the investigation between some members of the Court and some lawyers of the bank.

Police commander Nathalie Le Roy, pushed out of the Kerviel case last March after having expressed her suspicion, told daily 20 Minutes that she recorded De Leiris without her knowledge.

Since she testified before a judge about her doubts, Le Roy said she has been abandoned by her hierarchy. That’s why she has given the records to Kerviel’s lawyer.

Monday’s new revelation is very timely as former trader Jérôme Kerviel requests a retrial and the admissibility of his application is to be seen on Monday.

Kerviel has always denied the full responsibility of the 6.3 billion euros losses the bank claims, saying that his bosses at Société Générale knew about his risky 50 billion euros trades.

He was sentenced in 2014 to three years in prison and two years suspended term.

An appeal court also rejected the 4.9 billion euros in damages that the Société Générale has claimed.