Dresden, Germany - French police investigating alleged
insider trading in EADS shares by the cross-border company's own
staff are to question a senior German executive, EADs said in Dresden
Tuesday.
Andreas Sperl, the chief executive of an EADS unit that
reconditions old planes for use as cargo jets, is the first currently
serving officer at the group to come into the ambit of the inquiry.
French police believe senior staff of the company, which owns the
planemaker Airbus, sold their shares at a high price just before
serious setbacks were made public and depressed the shares' market
value.
A spokesman for the Elbe Flugzeugwerke unit said Sperl would
report to police in Paris 'soon.'
In a written statement, Sperl said, 'I am convinced that I acted
in accord with the applicable laws and internal guidelines.' He said
he was confident French investigators would agree.
A Dresden newspaper, the Saechsische Zeitung, was to report
Wednesday that he was suspected of taking advantage of internal
information when he sold some of his EADS shares in 2005 and 2006.
Sources said he was likely to arrive in Paris on Wednesday and
might face similar treatment to that received last week by another
German, a former Airbus chief executive, Gustav Humbert.
Humbert was put under formal investigation on similar allegations,
but was released on bail after two days of questioning in detention.
Other senior EADS executives named in the inquiry include
Frenchmen Noel Forgeard and Jean-Paul Gut.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story