Kerviel should walk free, says defence The 35-year's old defence team, headed by David Koubbi, was winding up the case for Mr Kerviel on the final day of his four-week long appeal against the five-year prison sentence, composed of three years behind bars and two years suspended, that was imposed on him in 2010. Mr Kerviel was also ordered to repay SocGen €4.9bn because his bets were unauthorised - something he has disputed, arguing that his superiors knew what he was doing but turned a blind eye. In the courtroom he appeared very nervous at the start of the hearing and at one point hurried out, apparently because of nausea induced by the unusually hot and humid weather. On Kerviel's return, the judge Mireille Filippini suggested he take off his jacket, which he did, and ordered a recess. "Where are the real liars in this courtroom?," asked Benoît Pruvost, one of the defence lawyers, adding that the court must "speak the law" and make acquittal the only outcome. He was speaking a day after the state prosecutor demanded a heavier sentence than the four years behind bars that the prosecution had requested in 2010, arguing he should serve the full five years in jail with no suspended term. "He alone took the initiative in the extravagant positions," said Dominique Gaillardot, counsel for the prosecution. "Société Générale's shortcomings don't make it an accomplice," he added, in reference to failures of the bank's controls that saw it subsequently fined by the regulator. Stephane Bonifassi, of Paris-based lawyers Lebray & Associés, who specialises in white collar crime, said: "It looks like the appeal did not go that well for Mr Kerviel. The mere fact that the prosecutor requested a stiffer sentence is a sign that he felt he had the margin to do so and that the court might follow it. During the appeal, Mr Kerviel's new team of lawyers took a more aggressive line than his 2010 defence team. They argued that not only did his superiors know about the bets but that they had used them as a plot to mask the bank's €2bn of subprime losses, a claim dismissed by the prosecution as "a giant lie" and "the ultimate joker." Mr Kerviel denied that money had ever been a "driver" for him. He said he was only trying to make money for the bank that he "loved." The appeal process has been marked by a number of sharp clashes between Mr Koubbi and the judge, particularly over Mr Koubbi's method of questioning witnesses, which sometimes involves reminding them that they spoke under oath. "We don't intimidate witnesses here," charged Ms Filippini, presiding over the three-judge panel. On another day she broke up a heated exchange of words between two lawyers for the civil plaintiffs, which include SocGen and some shareholder groups, telling them: "Last week it was like an infant school here; this week it's a kindergarten." The verdict will be delivered on October 24.