PARIS, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The French lawyer for Telegram

boss Pavel Durov said it was "totally absurd to suggest that the

head of a social network" such as his client could be involved

in criminal acts, Franceinfo and BFM TV reported on Thursday.

"Telegram fully abides with European rules on digital. It is

a moderator whose rules are similar to those of other social

networks," David-Olivier Kaminski told several reporters.

A French judge put Durov under formal investigation on

Wednesday in a probe into organized crime on the messaging app,

but granted the entrepreneur bail on condition he pays 5 million

euros ($5.6 million), reports twice a week to police and does

not leave French territory.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement the

judge found there were grounds to formally investigate Durov on

all the charges for which he was arrested four days ago.

They include suspected complicity in running an online

platform that allows illicit transactions, images of child sex

abuse, drug trafficking and fraud, as well as the refusal to

communicate information to authorities, money laundering and

providing cryptographic services to criminals.

Durov's lawyer did not immediately respond to a Reuters

request for comment.

($1 = 0.8980 euros)