Παραδέχθηκε τις κρυφές δραστηριότητές του ο trader της Societe Generale

Παραδέχθηκε τις κρυφές δραστηριότητές του ο trader της Societe Generale

Ο πρώην διαπραγματευτής της Societe Generale Ζερόμ Κερβιέλ, ο οποίος κατηγορείται για τη μεγαλύτερη υπόθεση απάτης που έχει διαπραχθεί σε βάρος τραπεζικού ιδρύματος, ομολόγησε στις αστυνομικές αρχές της Γαλλίας ότι απέκρυψε τις δραστηριότητές του από τους προϊσταμένους του, όπως ανακοινώθηκε τη Δευτέρα από τον εισαγγελέα του Παρισιού.

Ο Κερβιέλ αν και παραδέχθηκε την απόκρυψη των τοποθετήσεών του, οι οποίες εκτιμάται ότι θα κοστίσουν στην τράπεζα περί τα 4,9 δισ. δολάρια, υποστήριξε ότι δεν το έκανε με σκοπό να πλήξει την Societe Generale, αλλά επιδιώκοντας να βελτιώσει τη φήμη του ως διαπραγματευτής.

Ο Κερβιέλ δήλωσε μάλιστα πως και άλλοι διαπραγματευτές επιδίδονταν σε τέτοιου είδους ενέργειες, υπερβαίνοντας τα επιτρεπτά όρια στις συναλλαγές τους, από τα τέλη του 2005.

NAFTEMPORIKI

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SocGen's Kerviel Charged With Attempted Fraud

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Jerome Kerviel, the trader accused by Societe Generale SA of unauthorized dealing that led to 4.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) in losses, was charged with attempted fraud by the French financial police today.

The 31-year-old trader hacked into computers and faked e- mails and documents to hide trades that amounted to 50 billion euros before they were discovered, France's second-largest bank by market value said yesterday.

Kerviel was charged on four counts, including abuse of trust and attempted fraud, Paris prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said at a press conference today. The most serious of the charges is the abuse of trust, which carries a seven-year prison sentence and a fine of 750,000 euros.

The trader ``cooperated fully,'' Marin said.

The bank handed investigators information about Kerviel on the evening of Jan. 25 as part of the probe into the losses, the biggest in banking history, that occurred when Kerviel set up positions in futures linked to European stock indexes and then hedged them with fictitious trades.

Messages left for comment at the offices of Christian Charriere-Bournazel, one of Kerviel's lawyers, were not immediately returned. There was no answer at the office of Elisabeth Meyer, another lawyer working on his case.

Kerviel had ``committed no dishonest act, did not siphon off a single cent, and did not profit in any way,'' Agence France-Presse cited the lawyers as saying yesterday. Societe Generale was creating a ``smokescreen'' to hide losses it had made elsewhere, the news agency quoted the lawyers as saying.

``That's laughable,'' said Societe Generale Chairman Daniel Bouton in an interview on Europe1 radio station today. ``How can you imagine that we'd hide a hole with another hole? If we had a hole somewhere else, there's no way we could hide it.''

BLOOMBERG