A senior French arms industry executive has admitted writing an anonymous letter at the heart of a dirty tricks scandal shaking the government, but denied it was to help Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin smear a rival.

Jean-Louis Gergorin said in an interview published yesterday that he alerted Villepin to a list of suspicious bank accounts allegedly belonging to politicians and civil servants, but it did not mention Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin?s authority has been seriously damaged by charges he tried to smear Sarkozy, a leading contender in next year's presidential race, by prolonging a secret probe into what he quickly found out was a faked list of suspected bribe-takers. Gergorin?s admission answered one of the many questions in the saga, but he declined to say who produced other letters and lists that targeted Sarkozy, who denies any wrongdoing.

Gergorin said he discussed the list with judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke, who was investigating a bribe-ridden 1991 arms export deal, but would not repeat this in a formal deposition. ?That led to the anonymous letter,? he told the daily Le Parisien.