The AMF has handed the findings of its probe into EADS down to

the public prosecutor’s department, confirms Le Monde. The French market regulator also sent notices of grievance detailing the allegations against the former and current executives being targeted in the probe, adds Les Echos. The news was confirmed by an AMF spokeswoman to the AFP press agency. The next step will be for the cited individuals – 17 past and present company executives, as well as shareholders Lagardere and Daimler- to present their defences. The AFX cites analysts as saying the probe’s association with executives at EADS and Airbus could threaten the aerospace group’s image, though no financial impact is expected from the investigation. However, Oddo Securities told the news agency that Louis Gallois’s legitimacy is reinforced because he “does not find himself implicated in this investigation”. In a comment piece in Financial Times, columnist Paul Betts focuses on the leaks that could undermine the AMF’s credibility. With the EADS case, “the regulator’s procedures are under fire […] because the AMF cannot seem to keep secret the confidential findings of its investigation into alleged insider dealing” at the company. Information has leaked twice indeed, recalls Suddeutsche Zeitung, in French website Mediapart this week, but also in Le Figaro previously. TTU claims that the latest leaks released online actually came from a report presented to the AMF council and, thus, is not the “edited and modified” version actually called the “AMF report”. In an interview with Les Echos, Louis Gallois presents his view of the affair and reiterates his “total confidence” in his colleagues, who are “not cheats”. He also regrets the “unacceptable” and “persistent” leaks of confidential information related to the inquiry, saying they were “damaging for the company and its 116,000 workers”. Mr Gallois explains that he decided to distribute to the group’s 1,200 managers a note he had sent to the AMF’s governing council two weeks ago. Though EADS is “not above the law” and he considers it is “legitimate” for the AMF to lead an inquiry, he emphasises the right of the cited individuals to “the presumption of innocence and the possibility to defend themselves”. Pointing at signs that EADS clearly is on the path of recovery –with orders for 1,400 aircraft, or the recent launches of Columbus and the ATV as blatant examples- Mr Gallois claims “the current managers deserve that we support them”. He notes that no one is looking into the fact that not 17 but 1,100 executives actually exercised stock options, adding, “1,100 insider trading actions at the same time makes no sense”. Besides, he says he “believes that the financial information given by EADS has always adhered to the rules of transparency”. However, he declines to comment on the consequences of possible formal charges against members of the EADS and Airbus executive committees. “I cannot react to events that have not happened, and I hope everybody will remain reasonable during this affair”. Le Monde also unveils details of the note Louis Gallois sent to the AMF, dated March 21. In this letter, he points at the AMF’s “surprising” methods: The regulator should have focused on financial information at EADS first, before alleged insider trading, he assesses. The 10- page letter takes apart piece-by-piece the AMF’s claims that EADS executives and shareholders possessed privy information when they sold their shares in 2005/2006. Meanwhile, during a press conference in Auckland, Thomas Enders strongly rejected accusations against several company executives, ensuring that they were innocent. “I know I have done nothing wrong, and I can say the same for all the managers that are supposedly involved”. He also said the insider trading probe was “biased” after the confidential report appeared on a website. “This is shocking and unacceptable”. Mr Enders is cited by the international press as claiming “the whole investigation has been conducted by people who know nothing about our business, know nothing about our industry and are driven by conspiracy theories”. Separately, cited by Handelsblatt, Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche denied allegations that the EADS shareholder was ever in possession of “information that could be subject to insider trading suspicions”. He added he had been “deeply irritated” by the online publication of the AMF report, while his company was informed much later on. AFP (09/04), Reuters (09/04), AFX (09/04), Bloomberg (09/04), Dow Jones Newswires (09/04), La Tribune, Les Echos, Le Monde, Aujourd’hui en France, Le Point, La Correspondance Economique, TTU (09/04), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Financial Times Deutschland, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Handelsblatt, Borsen-Zeitung, Financial Times, The New York Times (09/04), Negocio