Brian Cookson was made aware of four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome's adverse analytical finding in his final hours in office as head of cycling's world governing body in September.
UCI president between 2013-2017, Cookson lost his bid for re-election as France's David Lappartient won the vote on Sept. 21, with the Brit departing later that month.
Thank you everyone who I've worked with, thank you to the UCI and thank you to cycling! pic.twitter.com/XfS484fYPy
— Brian Cookson OBE (@BrianCooksonOBE) September 23, 2017
The former British Cycling president and member of Team Sky's supervisory board had on Thursday said he had "no role or influence" in how Froome's case had been handled.
Froome, who has denied any wrongdoing after a test during his 2017 La Vuelta win showed double the permitted levels of salbutamol, could face an anti-doping rule violation and a ban.
Cookson issued a further statement on Saturday, which read: "I was informed that Chris Froome had provided an A sample with an anomalous result for a substance that did not result in an immediate provisional suspension [in] the last 24 hours of my tenure at UCI.
"When I left the UCI the following day, the matter passed to the new president and, rightly, I was no longer informed about the matter."
News of Froome's adverse test has increased the pressure on Team Sky. It came soon after the inconclusive investigation into the contents of the mystery medical package delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins at a race in 2011, and revelations over Wiggins' use of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) before major races, including his 2012 Tour de France win.
Cookson last week defended Team Sky and Wiggins after the UK Anti-Doping investigation ended without charges, saying their reputations should be "reinstated".
However, Pat McQuaid -- another former UCI president -- believes the team's reputation will be further damaged by the latest controversy, which he described as a "disaster" for cycling.
"They've had a very difficult 15 months," McQuaid told BBC Sport. "They set out to be the clean team that was going to bring back the credibility of cycling and they have gone in the opposite direction this year.
"They are a team with by far the biggest budget and they can afford all of the experts and medical back-up and all of the things that a lot of teams can't afford and they find themselves in this situation.
"It's going to be very difficult to see how they can come out of this with any credibility at all. It begs a lot of questions."
PA contributed to this report