PARIS (IHT) -- A French appeals court delayed until Tuesday a decision on whether to release Jérôme Kerviel, the former trader blamed for nearly €5 billion of losses at the bank Société Générale, from pretrial custody, lawyers involved in the case said Friday.

Lawyers for Kerviel, 31, had requested the hearing Friday to appeal his detention, arguing that there was no risk that he might flee or otherwise jeopardize the investigation into his unauthorized trading, which ultimately exposed the bank to nearly €50 billion, or $78.2 billion, of risk. The former trader has been held in a Paris prison since Feb. 8.
""The court is right to take its time,"" said Frédérik-Karel Canoy, a lawyer representing a group of Société Générale shareholders that is suing the bank for failing to detect Kerviel's trades earlier. ""There are serious consequences for both sides.""
Kerviel has acknowledged making dozens of unauthorized speculative bets with the bank's money from early 2005 to January 2008 and hiding them using various methods, including fabricating documents and trades. The bank has filed a criminal complaint alleging forgery, breach of trust and illegal computer use.
Prosecutors argue that Kerviel should remain in detention because there is still a risk that he could flee or contact people who could influence the outcome of the investigation if he were to be released. They have also expressed concern about the former trader's mental state.
The judges leading the investigation, Renaud Van Ruymbeke and Françoise Desset, last week ordered that Kerviel undergo a psychiatric evaluation aimed at determining if his judgment might have been impaired during the nearly two years in which he conducted his trades, which grew progressively larger over the course of 2007. The results of that evaluation have not been made public.
Elisabeth Meyer, one of Kerviel's lawyers, managed to smile as she spoke with reporters after the hearing, in contrast to her ashen appearance five weeks earlier after the court ordered her client into custody. She declined to comment on Kerviel's state of mind during the hearing.
But Daniel Richard, another lawyer representing small shareholders of the bank, said Kerviel appeared serene under the circumstances. ""He had a very focused look about him, but appeared to me to be really very calm,"" Richard said.
Legal experts said the fact that three judges presiding over the appeals court hearing chose to deliberate until Tuesday suggested that they were considering releasing Kerviel.
""It is an unusual delay,"" said Stéphane Bonifassi, a lawyer in Paris and a member of FraudNet, a part of the commercial crime unit of the International Chamber of Commerce. ""In detention matters, a decision is usually rendered on the day of the hearing itself or the following morning.""
Bonifassi added that if the court did decide to release Kerviel, it could signal that his ultimate sentence, if he was convicted, might be more lenient. If convicted, Kerviel faces up to five years in prison and €375,000 in fines.