"I am not aware of these things. There is no understanding with anyone, there is no collusion with anyone," President Emmanuel Macron told journalists on the sidelines of a trip to the Gustave Roussy cancer institute near Paris on Tuesday, reports RFI.
Macron was addressing the controversy surrounding new revelations in the Nestlé Waters purification scandal.
The subsidiary of the Swiss agri-food giant has been accused of using illegal processing methods on its bottled water brands to bypass stringent health regulations.
The group is the owner in France of brands like Perrier, Vittel, Hépar and Contrex mineral waters.
On Tuesday, investigative journalists from Le Monde and Radio France revealed that the services of former prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, and the French presidency allowed Nestlé to market these waters, despite the health authorities' recommendations for a ban from 2023.
Citing "exchanges of emails and ministerial notes", the journalists accuse the French government of having "privileged the interests of Nestlé to the detriment of consumers" by granting exemptions for the company's practices.