By Chine Labbé
PARIS (Reuters) - A French court on Thursday cleared BPCE bank Chairman Francois Perol of wrongdoing in a conflict of interest case over his previous role as a presidential adviser on banking.
The court acquitted him of a charge of illegal conflict of interest. Prosecutors had alleged there was such a conflict between his 2009 appointment as head of France's second-biggest retail bank, and his position advising Nicolas Sarkozy, who was president at the time.
Prosecutors, who have 10 days to decide whether to appeal, had been seeking a two-year suspended sentence, a 30,000 euro (£22,154) fine and a ban on Perol holding public office.
The verdict lifts a cloud of uncertainty over BPCE and its 108,000 employees. There was no obvious successor for Perol had a guilt verdict forced him to step down.
Perol, who broke into tears when judge read the verdict, had denied any wrongdoing in the trial to determine whether his nomination to his current job in 2009 was illegal.
"It was a very active presidency, I took responsibilities at certain moments, the court has handed down justice," Perol said as he left the courtroom, struggling to keep down tears.
Perol, 51, was put in charge of BPCE after it was created by a merger of cooperative banks Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne to prevent - with state aid - their investment banking arm Natixis from collapsing in the financial crisis.
The banker denied during his trial that he played any decision-making role during the negotiations over the merger, which were closely followed by the presidency.
Prosecutor Ulrika Delaunay-Weiss said during the trial that Sarkozy' staff had been involved in merger project all along the way with nearly 40 meetings between them and the banks at the presidential palace between 2007 and 2009.
Prosecutors took up the case after the CGT and SUD unions filed a complaint.
French law bans public officials from working for companies over which they have had direct authority in the previous three years.