PARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - 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,
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.
 

His lawyer, Elisabeth Meyer, was seen by reporters at the
scene leaving the hearing in tears. She said she would appeal
against the decision.
 

A second trader, identified by two sources familiar with the
matter as 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.
 

Jean-David Scemama, a lawyer for the Newedge broker, was
quoted by French news agency AFP 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.
 

Scemama did not return calls seeking comment.
 

French police are investigating a trading loss of 4.9
billion euros ($7.1 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 U.S. 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.