Huge support for bank ‘martyr’ Jerome Kerviel

As that famous revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre once observed: "Omelettes are not made without breaking eggs". They are if the directors of French bank Societe Generale are doing the cooking.

Ever since rogue trader Jerome Kerviel was found to have taken huge and ultimately unsuccessful risks with the bank's money in January 2008, Societe Generale has denied all accusations that it gave tacit approval to the trader's reckless gambling.

When Kerviel went on trial in June this year his lawyer, Olivier Metzner, declared his client had been used as a "pawn for profit" and demanded he be found not guilty on all charges bar false computer logging. It was the case, claimed Kerviel, that his bosses had never asked questions about his deals because he was earning them so much money.
 
But judge Dominique Pauthe, who presided over the trial of the 33-year-old trader, sided with Societe Generale and this week sentenced Kerviel to five years imprisonment (two suspended) and a fine of €4.9 billion, the sum his gambles cost the French bank.

It was a verdict no one expected, least of all Kerviel who told a radio station on Wednesday: "I am crushed by the weight of the sentence... I've got the feeling they wanted me to pay the price for everyone else and that it was necessary to save [Societe] Generale bank and that they killed Private Kerviel."

Kerviel remains a free man while his appeal is heard, and it's clear that if it was left to the French people he'd be exonerated of all charges. The general feeling on the street is outrage at his punishment and the view of the media is one of indignation.

Popular tabloid Le Parisien wrote that Kerviel "has become a victim of the system" and in asking its readers if he had been treated unjustly found that 85 per cent agreed.  

The Left-wing Liberation newspaper argued in its editorial that he was the scapegoat for "all the sins of the bank," while La Tribune, France's answer to the FT, called the judgment "fanciful" and accused the judge of propagating the belief prevalent in France that the judicial system "protects the powerful and savages the weak".

This was certainly the view in the Breton village of Pont l'Abbé where Kerviel grew up.

A reporter who dropped in at the Symphony bar found regulars in angry mood with one drawing a comparison between Kerviel's fate and that of former French president Jacques Chirac, accused of misuse of public funds while in office but who is now on the brink of having all charges dropped because of "insufficient evidence".

While the inevitable support sites for Kerviel have sprung up on the internet (one Facebook group calls for him to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics), perhaps the most surprising reaction to the sentence has come from Gerard Longuet, a member of the ruling UMP party, and one of Nicolas Sarkozy's closest political advisors. He labeled the judgment "ridiculous" and said he found it wrong that "one single man should carry the entire and exclusive responsibility" for the crisis.

Kerviel's appeal could last a year, during which time he will try and prove Robespierre was right about his omelettes. That might be why on Wednesday night Societe General appeared to soften its stance towards a man they have previously described as a  "terrorist".

"We are a responsible bank and have no desire to drive a man into debt for so many years," said the bank in a statement, adding that they hoped to reach a solution on the question of Kerviel's fine that would be "reasonable to all parties." ·