ISLAMABAD While the fresh probe into the Agosta submarines deal has put the French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, under fire, a meeting of President Asif Ali Zardari and his French counterpart has been scheduled on 2nd August in Paris. A spokesperson of Foreign Office has already confirmed that President Zardari would fly to France on a three-day official visit on August 1 for wide-ranging talks with the French leadership on bilateral, regional and global issues. It will be his second engagement with French leaders following his visit to Paris in May last year. However, this time, Zardaris visit is likely to gather much more attention of French media after a Luxembourg police probe dragged the French Presidents name into a complicated corruption scandal involving kickbacks from submarine sales to Pakistan, which, according to the French media, may have a strong connection with French presidential campaign funds and the death of eleven French engineers in a mysterious bombing in Karachi. For many, it will be interesting to note that both, the Presidents of Pakistan and France, have one thing common. Both of them are facing allegations of corruption in their respective countries while presidential shield of immunity is equally protecting them from falling into the hands of law. Sources said President Asif Ali Zardari is likely to play a role in defusing the dust for his French counterpart which has risen after the fresh probe began in France, however, this correspondent could not get any comments in this regards from the spokesperson of the Presidency, as he was not available till the filing of this report. According to French media reports, French President Nicholas Sarkozy was under fire now a days, after a Luxembourg police probe, conducted last month, dragged his name into a convoluted corruption scandal involving kickbacks from submarine sales, presidential campaign funds and the death of eleven French engineers in a mysterious bombing in Karachi. Reports stated that Opposition MPs in France are calling on the president to clarify any connections he may have had with an arms deal ultimately thought to have led to the death of 11 Frenchmen in Karachi in 2002. Earlier extracts from a Luxembourg police report claimed that in 1994 Sarkozy, who was then budget minister, set up an off-shore company that was used to handle tens of millions of euros in illegal commission on a deal to sell French Augusta submarines to Pakistan. The report (a copy of which is available with this correspondent) goes on to claim that the Luxembourg-based firm then channelled some of this money back to France, where it was used to finance political campaigns. French prosecutors investigating the Augusta submarine deal have long suspected that Edouard Balladur, the prime minister of France at the time, used money from secret commission payments to fund the unsuccessful 1995 presidential bid. Sarkozy was a close political ally of Balladur and worked as spokesman for his presidential campaign, said the reports. He and Balladur have repeatedly dismissed these allegations said French media reports. Balladur lost the election to Jacques Chirac. It is claimed that it was the new Chirac administrations decision to put an end to the kickbacks paid to Pakistani officials under the Augusta deal. A week ahead of President Zardais visit to France, Socialist MPs, including the partys deputy leader Harlem Desir, are said to have called for French judges to request the Luxembourg police to shed further light on the case. It is pertinent to mention here that the incumbent French government spokesman Luc Chatel has reportedly dismissed the allegations involving Sarkozy as fairytales. As president, Sarkozy is immune from legal action while he is in office, said the media reports.