PARIS - French police on Wednesday detained a broker working for a Societe Generale subsidiary and who had contacts with rogue trader Jerome Kerviel, a judicial source said.
Police from the financial brigade are seeking to establish whether the broker may have helped Kerviel place tens of billions of euros in unauthorised deals at the French bank, according to the source.
The source said the broker was not a man who worked for Societe Generale subsidiary Fimat -- now Newedge-- and who has been named as an assisted witness in the case.
Police also searched Societe Generale`s offices near Paris as part of the investigation into the rogue trading scandal at the bank, said a bank official.
Kerviel, 31, has been charged with breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers in the scandal that cost Societe Generale 4.82 billion euros (7.1 billion dollars) in losses in January.
He is being held in custody and is due to appear in court on Friday to seek temporary release.
While Kerviel has insisted he acted alone, he has suggested that his bosses at Societe Generale knew that he was dealing with huge sums of money and that they turned a blind eye as long as he was making a profit.
French judges have questioned the broker at Fimat, the only other person suspected of having had a hand in the rogue trading scandal, but he has not been charged.
mra-mat/cml/rm/ag
03/12/2008 12:55 GMT