SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE 'IGNORED SUSPICIONS' OVER KERVIEL

PARIS - French police have questioned Société Générale (SG) employee Moussa Bakir as part of the ongoing investigation into the biggest rogue trading scandal of all time. The employee, working for the French bank's Fimat brokerage unit, reportedly probed unusual increases in commissions rogue trader Kerviel was receiving four months before SG revealed its losses.

A Fimat spokesman revealed Bakir had initiated an internal investigation into Kerviel's activities, which cost SG €4.9 billion ($7.1 billion) in losses by the time it abandoned his fraudulent positions last month. Two days before SG revealed the scale of its losses, Fimat was merged with another broker subsidiary Calyon into new brokerage NewEdge. It is believed the details of the merger meant Bakir's investigation was shelved, allowing Kerviel's trades to continue.

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