Former European Defense Exec Detained

European defense industry is having a bad month. A couple weeks ago, two senior officials at BAE Systems were briefly detained in the United States in connection to a bribery investigation, and now a former top official at EADS, which owns Airbus, is facing charges in France. The New York Times reports:

Noël Forgeard, the former co-chief executive of European Aeronautic Defense and Space, was detained by the French police on Wednesday for questioning related to an insider trading investigation.

*“He was called for questioning this morning with regard to his probable placement in detention,” a spokeswoman for Xavière Simeoni, the judge overseeing the case, said Wednesday. EADS. But a person with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said Mr. Forgeard had been placed in detention for 24 hours, which could be extended for another 24 hours.**Mr. Forgeard’s lawyer, Jean-Alain Michel, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for *

This comes at a sensitive time for EADS; it recently beat Boeing in a bid for the lucrative Air Force tanker deal. Boeing was originally tapped to provide the tankers, but the Air Force canceled the contract and held a new competition after it was revealed that a former weapons buyer held secret employment talks with Boeing. Two former Boeing officials eventually served time in prison. I bet French prisons serve better food.