The Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, is next week expected to effectively justify the police raid on the Sinn Féin offices in Parliament Buildings, Stormont, in October 2002.
The Ombudsman will report that the raid was carried out in a proper manner and that it was not politically motivated although there will be criticisms of the scale of the searches, according to reliable sources.
The raid was part of the so-called "Stormontgate" alleged IRA-intelligence gathering affair that resulted in the collapse of the Northern Assembly and executive.
The high-profile search of the Sinn Féin offices yielded nothing although the PSNI said that other elements of the investigation relating to Castle Buildings, Stormont and searches in west and north Belfast led to the recovery of confidential security and official documents.
Sinn Féin and some workers at the Sinn Féin offices at Parliament Buildings complained to the Ombudsman that some of the police were guilty of assault and that the search was politically motivated.
Senior Sinn Féin politicians also insisted that the more general allegations of the IRA operating a spy ring at Stormont were a sham and that it was Special Branch and British military intelligence "dirty tricks" that was behind the claims and the raids.
Now, however, following an investigation, Mrs O'Loan has found in favour of the police and rejected the main thrust of the Sinn Féin allegations, The Irish Times has learned.
Mrs O'Loan does level some criticisms against the police, however, in line with the PSNI Chief Constable Mr Hugh Orde's comments at the time that the raid could have been more sensitively handled. But she finds that the search was properly carried out and not motivated by political bias against Sinn Féin.
Such findings are likely to surprise many police officers as a recent survey found that only one in 10 PSNI members believed the Police Ombudsman would act fairly in complaints against them.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Mr Conor Murphy has said that the raid was "theatrically stage-managed" and clearly politically motivated. "The objective of securocrats was to collapse the political institutions and create a crisis in the peace process that could be blamed on republicans," he added.
SDLP policing spokesman Mr Alex Attwood said the reported findings of the Ombudsman confirmed the success of her office and "what was clear at the time, that the approach of the police was heavy-handed".
A Police Ombudsman spokesman would make no comment about the report apart from confirming it is due to be published early next week.
Next month's talks at Stormont and at Leeds Castle, near Maidstone in Kent, are designed to undo the damage of Stormontgate and restore devolution to Northern Ireland.
It is claimed that the overall Stormontgate investigation netted a huge haul of confidential documents - including personal details of 1,426 prison staff - that the IRA allegedly gathered. This led to the rehousing of 454 prison staff. The North's Security Minister, Mr Ian Pearson, recently said the cost so far of Stormontgate is £17 million and that the overall cost would be around £30 million.
Three Belfast men are still before the courts in relation to Stormontgate, charged with possessing documents useful to terrorists.
