Thomson ReutersFormer trader Jerome Kerviel leaves the courthouse in Paris, FrancePARIS (Reuters) – Societe Generale fired former trader Jerome Kerviel without real and serious cause, a French labor court ruled on Tuesday, ordering the bank to pay him 450,000 euros ($510,255), according to his lawyer and a court official. Judge Hugues Cambournac questioned some of the bank’s defenses since the scandal first emerged almost a decade ago. The ruling could have an effect on other pending cases that Kerviel has filed in French courts. The court, however, rejected Kerviel’s multi-billion euro request for more than the underlying loss at the bank. The dismissal “didn’t sanction Kerviel’s acts, but its consequences”.
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SocGen lawyer Arnaud Chaulet branded the ruling “scandalous” and said the bank would appeal against a decision he said ran counter to the law.
Kerviel has previously been found guilty for breach of trust and fraud, with his unauthorised trades losing the bank €4.9bn in 2008.
Kerviel served time in prison over the trades after a criminal conviction, and a civil court ordered him to pay the bank back all 4.9 billion euros in losses he generated ($7 billion at the time).
The trader has never denied building up trading positions amounting to 50 billion euros, but contends his managers should have been aware of his actions, something the bank has always strenuously denied.
His unauthorised trading nearly bankrupted SocGen, one of Europe’s biggest banks, but his defenders say he has been made a scapegoat.
“Societe Generale can’t pretend it was not aware of Jerome Kerviel’s fake operations” before his dismissal in January 2008, Judge Hugues Cambournac said.
France’s court of review and reassessment in March indefinitely delayed a decision on the bid for a retrial.
A civil trial over the amount Kerviel owed Societe Generale is scheduled for June.
“I have only one aim: to bring out the truth in this case”.
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The reason they believed he was sacked without “real and serious cause” is because the bank waited too long to get rid of him after becoming aware of his misconduct.
