Questions grow over SocGen's 2.2 billion euro tax rebate in Kerviel affair
Was Société Générale's determination to hold on to a 2.2-billion-euro tax rebate partly behind the French bank's motivation to pursue its “rogue trader” Jérôme Kerviel with such zeal? That is a question raised by a report written for French prosecutors in May 2008 and now seen by Mediapart and other French media as part of a joint investigation. As Martine Orange reports, it appears this important report was first ignored by the judicial authorities and then shredded.
ItIt is an issue that has hung over the Kerviel affair from the beginning. Did Société Générale's desire to keep a 2.2 billion-euro tax rebate the French bank received in March 2008 after its multi-billion losses influence its decision to pursue Jérôme Kerviel, the “rogue trader” it blamed for those losses? A report written in 2008 by an expert witness for the prosecution authorities, a copy of which has been by Mediapart, France Inter radio and newspaper 20 Minutes, raises major questions over this key issue.
