Dutch academic Edgar du Perron has withdrawn his earlier statement that France refused to allow internet bank Icesave target French savers, the Volkskrant reports on Saturday.

Du Perron made the comments in the paper last week, adding that the Netherlands could have taken the same steps. A former Icelandic minister made a similar remark in the paper a day earlier.
But Du Perron has now said that the sources he based the claim on were incorrect and that he had interpreted them wrongly.
The French central bank on Thursday issued a statement saying Icesave had never formally applied for permission to operate in France.
Du Perron earlier investigated the Icesave debacle for the Dutch government. The Volkskrant says he still stands by his earlier statement that ministers and the central bank could have done more to keep Icesave out.
The Icelandic bank collapsed in 2008. The Netherlands, Britain and Iceland are embroiled in a conflict about how Dutch and British government loans to Iceland – so it could repay savers – will themselves be paid back.