Christophe de Margerie is among four people killed as the private jet crashes during take-off from a Moscow airport.
The driver of a snow plough involved in the fatal collision that killed Total CEO Christophe de Margerie at a Moscow airport was drunk, according to Russian investigators.
Frenchman De Margerie and all three of the crew on board his private jet died in the incident on the runway at Vnukovo international airport on Monday night.
"It has been established that the driver of the snow plough was in a drunk state," the investigative committee said in a statement, adding that preliminary inquiries would focus on "an error by the pilots and the actions of the snowplough driver."
The driver's lawyer denied the claim, saying that his client has a heart problem and never touches alcohol.
"My client has chronic heart disease, he doesn't drink at all. His relatives and doctors can confirm this," lawyer Alexander Karabanov told Interfax news agency.
"At the moment of the accident he was sober."
The collision happened just before midnight local time (9pm UK time) as De Margerie's Dassault Falcon jet was preparing to take-off from Moscow bound for Paris.
Weather conditions at the time were poor, with dense fog and heavy rain reducing visibility to 350 metres.
Investigators said airport employees were being questioned as witnesses, and several may be suspended.
De Margerie had been in Moscow for a Russian government meeting on foreign investment.
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