The Italian government on Monday denied any involvement in a dossier purporting to show an attempt by Iraq to buy uranium in Africa and which was used to help support the case for toppling Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.

A statement from the Italian premier's office said "Italian institutions" were not involved "either directly or indirectly" in the forging or distribution of the dossier.

It also accused the Italian daily La Repubblica of "repeatedly attempting at all costs to support the hypothesis of the government 's presumed involvement."

La Repubblica has published a series of investigative articles alleging that Italy's military intelligence service Sismi handed the forged documents to the United States possibly under pressure from the Italian government.

The documents accused Iraq of trying to buy up to 500 tons of uranium oxide, which can be used to produce nuclear weapons, from Niger.

The claim was used by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and then US President George W. Bush to help support their case for waging war on Iraq.

According to the Los Angeles Times this weekend, the American Federal Bureau of Investigation has reopened an inquiry into the case which has been dubbed "Nigergate" by the Italian press.

According to La Repubblica, the documents were later passed to Sismi which then handed them on to pro-war officials in the United States and London.

The daily has accused Sismi chief Nicolo Pollari of involvement, saying that he met with America's then-deputy national security advisor Stephen J. Hadley on September 9, 2002.

In a hearing last month before the Italian parliament's intelligence watchdog committee Copaco, Pollari denied any Sismi involvement in the forging of the documents.

The Italian government has repeatedly rejected La Repubblica's allegations, blasting them as "unfounded and inexact" and categorically denying any involvement in the case either on the part of the government or Sismi.

Source: Xinhua