PARIS (Reuters) - The French government indicated on Friday it would reclaim a 2.2 billion euro ($2.46 billion) tax deduction from Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) if an appeal court rules ex-trader Jerome Kerviel should not have to pay damages for losses he caused.
Kerviel was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted by a Paris court in October 2010 of breach of trust and fraud over 4.9 billion euros of losses from equity derivatives trades in 2008.
Kerviel was initially ordered to repay the whole sum, but subsequent rulings have struck down that decision. In June, a public prosecutor said the bank "had left the door open" for Kerviel to act illegally.
The Versailles Court of Appeal will rule on what, if any, damages he should pay later on Friday.
"We will act on the court judgments as soon as we know what they are," Junior Budget Minister Christian Eckert told Europe 1 radio.
A repayment of the whole of the 2.2 billion euro tax break that SocGen benefited from would put its 2016 dividend at risk, analysts at Kepler Cheuvreaux said in a note in June.
($1 = 0.8927 euros)