Police Search Offices Hours Before Ceremony

A day that should have been about celebration for Airbus SAS and parent company European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) got off to an auspicious start. Police raided EADS headquarters hours before Tuesday's ceremony announcing certification of the A380 superjumbo.

The Associated Press reports police presented search warrants at the Paris offices of EADS and shareholder Lagardere SCA. The raids were part of an ongoing investigation into suspected corporate misconduct, and insider trading linked to production delays with the A380.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into those matters in November -- five months after word spread that fired EADS co-CEO Noel Forgeard and several collegues sold off company stock ahead of an internal investigation into problems with the A380. Largardere also sold off shares in EADS around that time, as did Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG.

EADS shares dropped more than 25 percent in value the day after those production problems were announced June 13. As Aero-News reported, France's Financial Markets Authority opened an insider trading probe two weeks later, and carried out searches at EADS and Airbus offices.

Forgeard's replacement, Louis Gallois, has pledged "total openness" for the investigation. Gallois is also the CEO of Airbus.

FMI: www.airbus.com