Airbus 'insider trading' denied

French finance minister Christine Lagarde has denied the government acted improperly in relation to alleged insider trading at Airbus parent, EADS.

Giving evidence to parliament, she said her ministry was not aware of any problems at the firm before approving share sales in the Airbus owner.

Media reports claim the state knew about setbacks to the Airbus 380 and still allowed suspicious share sales.

These occurred before news about delays to the Airbus A380 emerged last June.

The services of my ministry performed their task in the most professional manner French finance minister Christine Lagarde

Ms Lagarde told a French parliamentary committee on Thursday that the government had acted "in the most irreproachable" manner with regard to EADS from the end of 2005 to May 2006, when delays to the Airbus 380 superjumbo first became public.

The announcement wiped 26% off the value of EADS, the Franco-German firm which owns the Airbus plane manufacturer.

A report from the stock market regulator AMF sent to the French prosecutor's office a week ago is understood to have examined the extensive sale of stock options before the problems with the plane were revealed.

The French press, claiming to have seen a leaked copy of the report, claim 21 former and current managers are under suspicion but stock market regulators have refused to comment on this, saying their probe is incomplete.

This prompted a parliamentary investigation into the role of the French government, a major EADS shareholder, amid allegations that ministers allowed state bank CDC to buy shares from defence firm Lagardere in April 2006 despite knowing about problems at the plane maker.

'Not aware'

Ms Lagarde said that the finance ministry's internal investigation into its conduct proved that until "at least the end of May 2006", the government was "no more aware than the public or the markets" of delays with the superjumbo A380.

"The services of my ministry performed their task in the most professional manner, the most irreproachable fashion," she said.

Thierry Breton, finance minister at the time, testified last week before the parliamentary committee that he knew nothing of the deal with Lagardere, also defending the finance ministry's actions as "beyond reproach".

President Nicolas Sarkozy has promised to investigate fully whether the government played any part in the alleged insider trading, while opposition politicians have called for a public inquiry into the matter.