Jan 28 2008 By Tom Parry
THE rogue trader blamed for the biggest bank fraud in history claims he has been made a scapegoat.
Jerome Kerviel, 31, could be jailed for up to 15 years for a £3.6billion share dealing scam.
But police insiders say the Frenchman claims he was a mere "patsy" for wealthy financiers higher up at his bank Societe Generale.
Kerviel, a junior trader, is due to be charged today.
He has promised specialist fraud squad officers in Paris that he will "name names".
Chief investigator Jean Michel Aldebert said: "Mr Kerviel is collaborating and says he is ready to explain everything.
"He says he wants to co-operate fully. He's feeling fine."
Kerviel began his reckless gamble with the European financial markets after a bitter split with a girlfriend and the death of his father.
The trader's 80-year-old aunt Sylviane Le Goff said: "He is carrying the can for other people at the bank.
"They should be questioning other people in high positions at the bank.
"He has told his mother, 'Mum, I have done nothing wrong.' "We had been telling him for over a year to look for another job. The bank asked too much of him."
Kerviel faces charges of forgery and computer misuse.
He is expected to identify traders at other investment banks who he spoke to before the scandal broke. They were able to make lucrative investments based on Kerviel's information about Societe Generale.
The bank say Kerviel did not appear to have profited personally from the fraud and seemingly worked alone.
But Jean-Pierre Mustier, chief executive of the corporate and investment banking arm added: "I cannot guarantee 100 per cent that there was no complicity."
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