Societe Generale Investigated in France for Possible Anti-Corruption Breach

Societe Generale SA France (GLE.FR) said Tueday that France's National Financial Office has opened a preliminary investigation on possible violations of anticorruption laws involving the French bank's relations with the Libyan Investment Authority.

Societe Generale said it received two legal requisitions in September and October, and the required documents are being sent to French authorities.

The bank had paid EUR963 million ($1.11 billion) to the LIA as part of an agreement reached in May with the Libyan sovereign fund, which had claimed $2.1 billion from the bank for alleged acts of corruption. The criminal aspect of this case is now being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Last week, during the presentation of its third-quarter results, the bank announced that it had spent an additional EUR300 million on litigation provisions.

This story was translated in whole or in part from a French-language version initially published by L'Agefi, a partner of Dow Jones & Co.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2017 10:02 ET (15:02 GMT)