Bankers sought in France, Germany over UK Euribor case

Britain's Serious Fraud Office today said it had issued European arrest warrants for five bankers currently living in France and Germany over alleged manipulation of the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor.
"The arrest warrants were applied for these five individuals and they were granted," an SFO spokeswoman told AFP.
The five include four former Deutsche Bank employees -- Andreas Hauschild, Joerg Vogt, Ardalan Gharagozlou and Kai-Uwe Kappauf -- as well as former Societe Generale employee Stephane Esper.
Esper's lawyer, Francois de Casto, said his client would be contesting the warrant in France.
A preliminary hearing was held at a London court in January in a case that is due to go to trial in September next year. The five did not attend.

Six other bankers appeared at the January hearing, charged with conspiracy to defraud in relation to alleged manipulation of the Euribor between 2005 and 2009.
The Euribor is the eurozone equivalent of the daily London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, which was found to have been manipulated.
It is alleged that collusion to manipulate the Euribor rate occurred between employees of Deutsche Bank, British lender Barclays and French giant Societe Generale to profit the accused and their employers.