* Sales chief John Leahy has denied wrongdoing
* Airbus parent EADS declines comment (Adds extra judicial source, background)
By Thierry Leveque
PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Airbus sales chief John Leahy has been placed under formal investigation in France on suspicion of insider trading, two judicial sources said on Friday.
Leahy, who has denied any wrongdoing, was among a number of executives cleared a year ago in a separate investigation into similar charges by France's AMF stock market watchdog.
Both probes were triggered after EADS suffered a 26 percent fall in its share price in June 2006 following the announcement of worsening output delays in the A380 superjumbo.
The move against Leahy and a former human resources manager brings to seven the number of people placed under investigation as the judicial part of the probe widens, one of the judicial sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Investigating judges have questioned about 10 people in recent weeks, some of whom were called for questioning with a lawyer present, another judicial source said.
Both judicial sources are familiar with the case but neither is authorised to speak publicly.
Airbus parent EADS declined comment.
Leahy was not immediately available for comment.
Being placed under formal investigation in France is a step short of formal charges, but is part of a lengthy process that may lead to trial.
The AMF said on Dec. 18, 2009, it had not found any evidence that Leahy and others who exercised share options in the weeks and months before the announcement of delays knew at the time about the extent of problems then threatening the A380 project.
The world's largest airliner has since entered service.
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Leahy is best known as the public face of Airbus sales campaigns which place it in competition with Boeing.
Judicial sources said Leahy was placed under investigation on Nov. 5, the day after the world's largest airliner hit the headlines when an engine blew out on a Qantas flight.
French judges have already placed five people under investigation in the case, including former Airbus chief and EADS co-chief executive Noel Forgeard.
Forgeard was also cleared along with others in the AMF part of the investigation and has denied any wrongdoing.
Insider trading is punishable in France by two years in prison and a fine worth up to 10 times the amount gained from the transactions.
The AMF said in a report submitted to prosecutors that 17 out of 21 members of the executive committees of Airbus and EADS sold 1.7 million shares in EADS between 19 July, 2005, and 13 June, 2006, for a pre-tax gain of 20 million euros.
Leahy gained 2.2 million euros, the AMF said.
The amount involved in dealings by current and former EADS executives is not contested but French law requires prosecutors to prove that any gains resulted from "privileged information".
In 2007, Leahy said the number of people involved in company share schemes who were originally suspected of having access to such information, as set out in a preliminary AMF report leaked to a French newspaper, proved that the allegations were false.
"We have a stock option plan here for 1,200 executives," Leahy told Reuters. "So the fact that 1,200 people were rumoured to be under investigation ... is hardly grounds for charges against people for (dealing on) inside information. If 1,200 people had information it certainly wasn't inside information." (Reporting by Thierry Leveque; Editing by Hans Peters)