The Police Service of Northern Ireland has been accused of running a political agenda at the Smithwick Tribunal to ensure a finding of collusion between gardaí and the IRA.
The accusation was made by Jim O'Callaghan, counsel for retired Detective Sergeant Owen Corrigan, who is one of three former gardaí being examined by the Tribunal to see if they passed information to the IRA.
Mr Corrigan, along with former sergeants Leo Colton and Finbarr Hickey, all deny the accusation.
Mr O'Callaghan said it was clear the PSNI were trying to undermine the evidence of some former RUC officers and promote the evidence of others.
"It clearly indicates a strategy has been adopted by the PSNI seeking to support and promote a finding of collusion," he told Judge Smithwick.
"It's promoting a political agenda at a Tribunal of inquiry and it's shameful for a modern police force."
Mr O'Callaghan made his comments during the cross examination of a former RUC officer by counsel for the PSNI, Mark Robinson.
Witness 80 said he had come forward and contacted the Tribunal when he had heard the allegations against Mr Corrigan.
He said he had known Mr Corrigan during his time working in RUC Special Branch in the border area.
He had an excellent working relationship with him adding that Mr Corrigan could have set him up to be killed at any time.
Witness 80 said he had heard rumours about Mr Corrigan but mainly from uniformed, part time RUC officers.
It emerged in his original statement to the Tribunal the witness described it as "Protestant gossip" but that was later changed to just "gossip."
He also said he had heard that Mr Corrigan was involved in petty crime but was not a security risk.
Asked to elaborate he said that the rumours and gossip were that Mr Corrigan had been "building up his bar business" and he had ordered material for the house he was building but never paid for it.
The witness added that he had heard similar gossip about fellow RUC officers but acknowledged he did not hear it about any other garda members.
The witness also revealed he was involved in the investigation into the death of British Army Captain Robert Nairac.
He told the Tribunal that he and his senior officer went to see Capt Nairac on the afternoon of his death and told him to stop going out and trying to work undercover.
He promised he would but that night he went to The Three Steps Inn in Drumintee, south Armagh where he was abducted and killed.
The witness said Capt Niarac had practiced "this Irish voice" but while it would fool an Englishman it would not fool an Irishman.
Earlier the Tribunal heard that the finger and palm prints of two IRA men were kept in a "political file" at Garda Headquarters.
Det Sgt Aidan Daly, a fingerprint expert, told Judge Smithwick that the prints from around 700 to 800 people would be in the “political file”.
From that a “hot file” would also be extracted involving people known to be active in an area.
British agent, Peter Keeley, had alleged at the Tribunal that when gardaí raided a bomb factory he was working in along with Patrick 'Mooch' Blair they fled across the border because they believed their fingerprints were all over it.
However, around two days later they were told it was safe to return because "our friend" had looked after it.
He said he believed that the Det Sgt Owen Corrigan had removed or destroyed the fingerprint evidence.
Mr Corrigan's denies the claim.
The Tribunal had been told that some prints were taken from the Omeath scene but no one was identified from them.
The witness said he would have expected that prints taken from that site would have been checked against people in the “political file” or the “hot file”.
Sometimes they would rely on information from gardaí working on the case as to whom the suspects were but if there was no match comparing prints they would expand their search of the file, said Det Sgt Daly.
Sgt Daly also spoke about a flood in the basement of Garda Headquarters where files had been stored.
He said the file on the Omeath bomb factory was there but cannot be found now.
It is likely it was destroyed in a flood in 2002.
Former justice minister rejects Smithwick claims
Former minister for justice Gerry Collins has written to the Smithwick Tribunal saying that former taoiseach Jack Lynch was totally opposed to IRA violence.
He also disputed evidence given yesterday by a retired RUC officer that Mr Lynch ordered no co-operation between the gardaí and the RUC into the deaths of 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water.
Mr Collins, who was minister for justice at the time of the IRA ambush in 1979, offered to return to the Smithwick Tribunal to give evidence about events of that time.
"I think fairness to the memory of Jack Lynch," he wrote, "requires that I be asked to come back and give evidence challenging that given yesterday."
The Tribunal heard from a senior RUC officer that he attended a meeting in Dublin Castle with senior Garda officers and was told that the Taoiseach had decreed the attack on the British soldiers was a political crime and no assistance should be given to the RUC.
Mr Collins said in his letter to the Tribunal that he was the minister for justice and was fully aware of Mr Lynch's attitude towards the IRA.
He said the statement by Witness 68 was "absolutely incorrect" and that Mr Lynch vehemently opposed the IRA's campaign of violence.
"He sought to ensure that there was co-operation between the Garda Síochána and the RUC in order to combat the threat to both parts of the island," Mr Collins wrote.
