Police informer deal unauthorised: report

A police officer struck an unauthorised deal with a criminal informer, Victoria's anti-corruption watchdog has found.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) looked into a complaint about a Victoria Police investigation codenamed Operation Plyers, an offshoot from the Petra Taskforce.

Petra Taskforce was established to investigate the murder of police informers Terence and Christine Hodson in 2004.

The main allegation was that a police investigator failed to secure proper authorisation when he struck a deal with a person charged with serious offences to provide information about the leak of police documents to an organised crime figure.

The deal came unstuck when the police officer found the information and level of cooperation was insufficient.

But the police informer subsequently successfully relied on the agreement to avoid trial and asset confiscation.

IBAC's investigation found that there was no record of the Petra Taskforce steering committee approving the agreement and that the investigator entered the agreement without sufficient authority to do so.

IBAC also found that there was no cause to be concerned that the investigator's relationship with the "defendant" was in any way "unprofessional, inappropriate or improper".

The IBAC report also said further investigation by Victoria Police into the conduct of the investigator resulted in the allegations being "unable to be determined" and Victoria Police did not intend to take any further action.