Private detective William Flynn has been found not guilty of the theft of a planning file from Navan Town Council by a jury at Trim Circuit Criminal Court.
Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Flynn told the jury he had taken the file - relating to a plot of land off Ludlow Street in Navan - because he believed he had a duty to the taxpayers of Meath and Ireland.
He claimed that companies or individuals associated with Meath County Council got council land worth £4 million pounds for £98,000.
He said his taking of the file was "premeditated" and he did so at noon on December 23rd, 2003, when he knew the council was holding its Christmas party.
"I would do it again, I did something for the taxpayers of Ireland. After taking it I was euphoric, I felt I had done something good for the people of Meath."
He claimed the file related to "complex fraud" and "massive corruption".
The jury also heard Mr Flynn had contacted the Mahon planning tribunal in relation to the issue.
Mr Flynn (60), Thistlewaite House, Rathcore, Enfield, Co Meath, pleaded not guilty to a charge of dishonestly appropriating the 11-year-old planning file from the offices of Navan Town Council, Watergate Street, Navan on December 23rd, 2003.
He said he was investigating allegations of planning corruption.
Cross-examined by Garnet Orange, prosecuting, he said one of his clients was Navan publican James Curry, who was paying for his time.
The court was told by former Navan town clerk John O'Donoghue that Mr Curry had a plot of land that provided the only access to eight other plots off Ludlow Street, Navan and all nine had been designated for urban renewal.
"He held the trump card," Mr O'Donoghue said.
The witness also said he had noticed that a draft letter seeking ministerial approval for the sale of the site, which is required when the sale is at less than the market value, was missing when he examined the file in 2001.
However, in reply to Mr Orange, he said that letter would have been in the land acquisition file and not the planning file.
The land was sold to the town council for use as a car park but then bought by a developer and the apartment complex, The Steeples, was built on it.
It is also alleged that some months before the council acquired the site, a company called Eracase Ltd had instructed architects that it owned the land and instructed them to draw up plans.
Loman Dempsey, a brother of Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey, is a director of Eracase.
Mr Flynn told the jury he had removed the file for its "safe keeping".
He told the then town clerk he would copy it and would return the original file to the gardaí and a certified copy to the council by the January 6th, 2004.
Mr Flynn claimed that there was "Garda conspiracy of shutting down this investigation by charging me".
Speaking after the verdict, which came after the jury deliberated for just under 90 minutes, Mr Flynn said he was relieved and that it had been very stressful in recent months.
"Over the last 27 years, whenever I am doing a big case, the State attacks me before the case unfolds."
He said the Garda Commissioner, Noel Conroy, had confirmed to him that there is a new Garda investigation under way into the planning file which is being undertaken by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Mr Flynn has become known in recent years for his work into allegations of corruption among some gardaí in Donegal.
This has been the subject matter of the Morris tribunal which is continuing.