The Police Ombudsman, Ms Nuala O'Loan, has taken over responsibility for investigating a complaint by a former Special Branch chief, Mr Bill Lowry, that he was forced to resign from the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Mr Lowry caused surprise when he abruptly retired last month from the PSNI after 30 years. He complained to the Policing Board that he had been compelled to retire.
Mr Lowry in a letter to the board, since passed to the Ombudsman, said he felt "humiliated, degraded, embarrassed and betrayed". He asked for people with the highest security clearance to investigate.
Mr Lowry, who led the inquiry into the alleged IRA spy ring at Stormont, suggested that a telephone call from London had led to action against him. He had been the subject of an internal police disciplinary inquiry in relation to a media briefing that he gave about alleged IRA intelligence-gathering, although no action was taken.
The Policing Board chairman, Prof Desmond Rea, said the complaint had been passed to the Police Ombudsman on legal advice.
A Policing Board member, Mr Ian Paisley jnr of the DUP, told The Irish Times yesterday that Mr Lowry's allegation was tantamount to a claim of political interference.
The Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde, told Mr Paisley at a board meeting last week that he had come under no political pressure in relation to Mr Lowry's case.
