LONDON, Feb 29, 2008 (AFP) - McLaren furiously denied on Friday that Italian police had discovered incriminating evidence in their latest inquiries into the ´Spygate´ scandal which rocked Formula One last year.

On Thursday, senior figures at the team were interviewed by Italian investigators as part of the separate legal probe into the affair.

McLaren were fined 50 million pounds and stripped of all their points in the constructors´ championship by the sport´s governing body, FIA, after they were found guilty of being in possession of ´leaked´ technical information from Italian rivals Ferrari.

"McLaren Racing wishes to record its extreme displeasure with the wording of a statement that the Italian Police are reported to have made yesterday (Thursday)," said a team statement.

"If those reports accurately reflect the police statement, the statement is grossly inaccurate and misleading.

"The reports incorrectly claim that the searches produced material which clearly shows the responsibility of certain people at McLaren Racing.

"In fact, the Italian police have not yet even been given access to any of the material taken, nor have they even started to review that material.

"We would be extremely surprised if the review of the documentation reveals anything which has not already been disclosed as a result of the extensive investigations already carried out."

The ´Spygate´ scandal was sparked when a 780-page Ferrari dossier was discovered at the home of McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan.

Although the FIA investigation into the incident appears to have come to a conclusion, separate legal inquiries are still in progress.

Nigel Stepney, sacked as Ferrari´s head of performance development and alleged to have passed the information on to Coughlan, was last week questioned on the matter by Modena prosecutor Giuseppe Tibis.

It is understood McLaren team principal Ron Dennis and chief executive Martin Whitmarsh were among those quizzed at their homes on Thursday.