UPDATE 1-Arnaud Lagardere says govt knew of EADS sale plan

(Adds more quotes, background)

PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Arnaud Lagardere was quoted on Saturday by a newspaper he owns as saying he kept the French government closely informed of his group's plan to cut its stake in aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

He said he was unaware of delivery delays at Airbus when he sold his shares in April 2006.

"From 2006 my staff had repeated high level meetings concerning the operation with the Prime Minister's services. They related to the plans, the timetable, etc.. Matignon (the prime minister's office) followed the operation from the start," Lagardere told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

"I was only informed of the new delivery delays at a board meeting on June 12," he said.

The Lagardere group (LAGA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and others are under investigation for selling EADS shares before delivery delays to the flagship A380 super-jumbo project were announced in June 2006, sending EADS shares down 26 percent.

The deputy head of France's stock market regulator AMF told Le Figaro newspaper in an interview on Saturday it had gathered evidence that warranted a report being made to prosecutors but that its inquiry would not end probably until March 2008.

"For reasons of procedure, the people who find themselves under suspicion have not yet had a chance to exercise their right of defence...We have therefore to avoid drawing hasty conclusions," AMF Secretary General Gerard Rameix told Le Figaro.

Lagardere told Journal du Dimanche he would do everything to defend his group, and noted he had not sold any shares in EADS himself. He said he decided to cut Lagardere's EADS stake in August 2005, at a time when 149 A380s had been ordered.