Former Airbus vice-president Olivier Andries, suspected of profiting from restricted knowledge about aircraft production delays, has been charged with insider trading, a legal official said on Dec. 9.
Andries, who denies wrongdoing, was charged on Dec. 5 and released on bail of 130,000 euros (US$170,000), in the latest development in a probe focusing on more than a dozen current and former EADS executives, the official said.
The European Aeronautic Defence Space Co. is the parent company of Airbus, which has its headquarters in Toulouse in southwestern France. Investigating judges suspect Andries of having sold EADS stock before problems emerged with the Airbus A380 superjumbo in June 2006. Reports of delivery delays caused shares in EADS to plunge on the stock market.
France's AMF market watchdog said in a report that Andries sold 50,600 EADS stock-options in March 2006 for 610,960 euros.
Three former directors and one serving director of the group have already been charged with insider trading.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
