Two days after Turkey claimed it had shared recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with France and other countries, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says that his country is not in possession of the alleged tapes as far as he was aware.

“He has a political game to play in these circumstances,” Mr. Le Drian said in an interview on France 2 on Monday, when asked whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was lying about handing over the tapes to French authorities.

Mr. Erdogan said on Saturday that he had also shared the recordings with Saudi Arabia, Washington, Germany and the UK.

Turkey has not said how it obtained the recordings but Mr Erdogan’s comments on Saturday were believed to confirm previously unsubstantiated reports that Turkish authorities had audio recordings of what transpired after Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, the last time he was seen alive.

Saudi Arabia has said Khashoggi was murdered in an unauthorised operation.

Six Saudi officials were dismissed over the killing and 18 people arrested. Turkey claims a 15-member team was sent to kill Khashoggi. Mr. Erdogan said it knew who was behind his death and the location of the journalist's remains.

Separately, Simon McDonald, who serves as British Prime Minister Theresa May's special envoy, met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Monday, in the first visit of a senior British official to the kingdom since Khashoggi’s murder.

The Saudi state-run news agency says Mr. McDonald reviewed bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments in the meeting with Prince Mohammed on Monday.

A day earlier, Mr. McDonald met with King Salman.