France's presidential palace said on Friday there was no proof to implicate President Nicolas Sarkozy in an investigation into the circumstances behind a 2002 bomb attack in Pakistan that killed 11 French people.
Families of the victims have said Sarkozy should be summoned for questioning in the probe, which aims to clarify whether the attack was a reprisal against France for a decision to stop paying commissions on Agosta submarine sales to Pakistan.
Investigating magistrates also aim to determine whether any of the alleged sale commissions were used to make illegal contributions to the presidential campaign of then Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, a centre-right politician.
Sarkozy was budget minister under Balladur in 1993-95, years straddling the signing of the Agosta contract in September 1994. The Elysee palace rejected suggestions that Sarkozy may have been aware of the commissions as "malicious rumours".
"It is unacceptable for this drama to be used as a circumstantial argument to feed the cause of those who have no other concern than to implicate the head of state with a series of insinuations, in an affair which concerns him in no way," the presidential palace said in a statement. The Elysee palace also brushed off accusations that the government may have hindered the investigation by invoking official secrecy acts and said there was no proof to implicate Sarkozy in any part of the probe.