Police widen SocGen probe

By Thierry Leveque

The news emerged as a court prepared to rule on whether Kerviel, the 31-year-old trader blamed by Societe Generale for huge unauthorized dealings, should be taken into custody.

The brokerage is a SocGen subsidiary formerly known as Fimat but renamed this year as Newedge after it merged with Calyon Financial. The brokerage's offices were raided by police on Thursday.

Societe Generale lawyer Jean Veil said it was "premature" to comment on the developments in the probe.

The Paris prosecutor's office appealed against that decision, and the appeal hearing is due to be heard from 1300 GMT on Friday.

"It is necessary to verify whether Kerviel profited personally," Ulrika Weiss, spokeswoman for the prosecutor, said on Thursday.

Kerviel told Agence France Presse news agency in an interview on Tuesday that he accepted his share of responsibility for the losses but did not want to be made a scapegoat.

Societe General is working on a 5.5 billion-euro rights issue to repair its balance sheet after the trading losses and write-downs linked to the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. The rights issue is expected to be launched next week.