Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has claimed that his bank account was accessed by The Observer newspaper.
Giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry into press ethics, the SNP leader said a journalist for the paper told him the Sunday broadsheet had looked into his account in the run-up to the 1999 Scottish election.
"I have no evidence that my own phone has been hacked," he told Lord Justice Leveson.
But he added: "My bank accound was accessed by The Observer newspaper some time ago, in 1999, and my reason for believing that is I was informed by a former Observer journalist."
Salmond said the paper had wanted to find out about a purchase from a shop called 'Fun and Games' which he believed it mistook for an adult store when it was actually a children's toy shop.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Guardian News & Media, the publisher of The Observer, said:
"Mr Salmond first raised the matter of an alleged unauthorised access of his bank account with the Observer's editor last year.
"The allegation was that a journalist working for the Observer had accessed his bank details in 1999. As we explained to him last year, on the basis of the information he had given us, we have been unable to find any evidence to substantiate his allegation.
"As our response to him at the time made clear, we take this allegation very seriously and if he is able to provide us with any more information we will investigate further."