Louis Gallois, chief executive of EADS, has warned France’s stock market authority that its investigation into alleged insider dealing at the Franco-German aerospace group could threaten the company’s fragile recovery unless it turns up “clear evidence” of wrongdoing.

“You can’t condemn people who have huge responsibilities, you can’t attack a company . . . without clear evidence,” he told the Financial Times in a recent interview. “This company is clearly on [the path to] recovery. I don’t want that jeopardised on rumours, on feeling. I want evidence, clear evidence. It’s too important.”