FORMER SOCIETE GENERALE trader Jerome Kerviel has been jailed for three years by a Paris court, after begin found guilty of forgery, unauthorised computer use and breach of trust, reports the BBC.

He was sentenced to a total of five years in prison, with the final two years suspended, as well as being barred for life from working in financial services.

Kerviel was also ordered to repay damages of €4.9bn, which the bank say he lost on unauthorized, risky trading.

Caroline Guillaumin, a spokeswoman for Société Générale, said the damage award was “symbolic” and added that the bank did not expect would actually be paid, reports The New York Times.

The 33-year-old has appealed the sentence and will remain free until the appeal is heard.

Outside the court, Kerviel’s lawyer Olivier Metzner said: “This judgment is totally unreasonable. It suggests that the bank is not responsible for anything, that no system of control could have prevented this.”

During Kerviel’s trial last year, his defence team said that the bank had known of their client’s risky trading and that they had turned a blind eye. However, the jury concluded that the bank had not had knowledge of the trader’s dealings.

The bank was nonetheless fined €4m by French regulators for not providing a system to detect such behaviour.