PARIS - A FRENCH court ordered the detention of Jerome Kerviel, the rogue trader blamed by Societe Generale for huge losses, as police questioned a second trader, Mr Moussa Bakir, on whether he knew about Kerviel's illicit deals.

The Paris appeals court ruled on Friday that Kerviel should be held in custody for the duration of the investigation because of a risk he might try to abscond or act in concert with any accomplices he may have had.

Kerviel was taken to La Sante prison, close to the centre of Paris, where high-profile suspects such as business leaders and politicians are often held while under investigation.

A second trader, identified by two sources familiar with the matter as Mr Moussa Bakir, was also being questioned by police.

This trader works at Newedge, a brokerage formerly known as Fimat that executed orders on behalf of Kerviel. Its offices were raided by police on Thursday.

If investigators can show that others knew about Kerviel's trading activities it would be a dramatic new development in the case.

SocGen has maintained that Kerviel acted on his own. But he has told police that it was impossible that his supervisors could have been entirely in the dark about his activities.

A separate legal source, who confirmed earlier that police were questioning an unidentified trader, said his initial 24-hour detention period had been extended by another day.

Mr Jean-David Scemama, a lawyer for the Newedge broker, was quoted by a French news agency as saying Kerviel was one of a number of people his client had business dealings with but that he was 'relaxed' about the fact he was being questioned.

Mr Scemama did not return calls seeking comment.

French police are investigating a trading loss of 4.9 billion euros (S$10.1 billion) at Societe Generale which was revealed last month. SocGen has blamed Kerviel for the losses.

If the investigation establishes that others had a hand in in Kerviel's illicit trades, prosecutors may have new grounds to press fraud charges.

The latest twist comes at a time when Societe General is working on a rights issue to raise 5.5 billion euros to repair its balance sheet after the trading losses and write-downs linked to the United States subprime mortgage crisis.

One source close to the matter said SocGen's board plans to meet this weekend to finalise details of the issue, which is expected to be launched next week.

Detention
Societe Generale lawyer Jean Veil said it was 'premature' to comment on the developments in the probe.

Kerviel has been placed under formal investigation for breach of trust, computer abuse and falsification, but had been freed under judicial supervision on Jan 28 after investigating magistrates dropped fraud accusations from the charge sheet.

Kerviel told Agence France Presse news agency in an interview on Tuesday that he accepted his share of responsibility for the losses but did not want to be made a scapegoat.

He said he conducted the trades to make money for the bank but was not seeking to enrich himself. -- REUTERS

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