EADS stock trading probe intensifies

Police raided the headquarters of Airbus parent EADS and a major shareholder as an investigation of suspect share dealings intensified Tuesday, overshadowing a ceremony in Toulouse, France, to mark the much-delayed A380’s approval for commercial service.

Hours before the ceremony, at which European and U.S. aviation officials formally certified the 555-seat super-jumbo jet for passenger flights, investigators presented search warrants at the Paris offices of European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. and Lagardere.

Judicial officials, who asked not to be named citing French rules on the confidentiality of investigations, said the raids were part of a criminal probe into suspected insider dealing linked to the A380 production delays.

Prosecutors opened the investigation Nov. 20, five months after it emerged that Noel Forgeard, EADS’ ousted co-chief executive, and several of his former colleagues had sold off company stock ahead of an internal inquiry into the A380 design problems. Lagardere and Germany’s DaimlerChrysler also announced that they were reducing their stakes in EADS at about the same time.

Forgeard has denied any wrongdoing.

With Tuesday’s certification, signed by officials from the European Aviation Safety Agency and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the world’s largest passenger plane cleared its last official hurdle before the first delivery to Singapore Airlines Ltd. in October.