Italy's new government on Monday reiterated that the country had paid no ransom for hostage releases in Iraq.

The denial came in response to a report by the London-based Times newspaper that Italy along with France and Germany had agreed on the payment of a total of 45 million U.S. dollars in exchange for the release of nine hostages abducted in Iraq.

France has already denied the report.

In Italy, Foreign Ministry spokesman Pasquale Terracciano said "the Italian government paid no ransom," repeating what former Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini had said.

Fini denied on a television talk show broadcast in March last year that Italy had paid a ransom for the release of Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian reporter held hostage for a month in Iraq.

"I deny that the Italian government ever authorized payments of money," he said at the time.

Officially, ransom payments are banned by Italian law. But with Sgrena set free in early March last year, several newspapers claimed a ransom of millions of dollars might have changed hands to reach the hostage takers.

Monday's issue of the Times also claimed that Italy had paid 6 million dollars for the release of Sgrena in March last year and 5 million dollars for the release of aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta in September 2004.

More than 250 foreigners have been reportedly kidnapped since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. At least 44 of the hostages have been killed, while more than 140 others have been either released or rescued.

Source: Xinhua