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Fired SocGen Banker Seeking $5 Million Must Re-Run Court Fight

Fired SocGen Banker Seeking $5 Million Must Re-Run Court Fight

(Bloomberg) -- A former Societe Generale SA banker who claims he was unfairly fired for blowing the whistle on a bribery scheme must now wait about two years for a verdict after a Paris court failed to reach a decision on his $5 million lawsuit.

A Paris employment tribunal panel of four wasn’t able to reach a verdict Friday in the case filed by Elyes Jebali, an ex-managing director.

Jebali’s case was sent to a professional judge, a court official said by phone. No date is set for the review by the new court formation but the process typically takes about two years.

The lawsuit is an offshoot of a larger case. SocGen last year agreed to pay $585 million to resolve criminal charges related to the Libya investigation. A year earlier, the French bank agreed to pay 963 million euros to the Libyan Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund, to settle a civil lawsuit in London.

Representatives at SocGen declined to comment. Jebali’s attorney declined to immediately comment.

At a September hearing, a lawyer for the bank said Jebali was fired because “he lied,” denying knowledge of any improper activities when repeatedly asked by SocGen.

Jebali’s attorney said his client “was asked to lie” by the bank but then chose to cooperate with the U.S. Justice Department and SocGen then fired him as a retaliatory measure.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gaspard Sebag in Paris at gsebag@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman

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