France, July 2 -- A French parliamentary inquiry has found that physical and sexual abuse went unchecked for years at a Catholic boarding school while Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was education minister in the 1990s.

The 330-page report, released on Wednesday, says children at the Notre-Dame de Betharram school suffered violence "in the absence of action that the former education minister had the means to take", Violette Spillebout and Paul Vannier, the two co-rapporteurs, wrote.

Bayrou, who served as education minister from 1993 to 1997, has denied any wrongdoing and called the accusations a campaign of "destruction" against him.

His office told BFMTV he ordered an inspection "the day after a complaint for a slap" appeared. They sai...