EXCLUSIVE: No action by Met Police to remove confidential Operation Tiberius corruption report

SO WHAT? Met Police boss Cressida Dick has not ordered removal of Tiberius report online (Parliament TV)

IT is one of the most controversial and confidential documents to have emerged from the Met Police.

So secret are the contents of the Operation Tiberius report - which disclosed how several serving and forcer senior detectives had been corrupted by organised criminals - the force refuses to publicly discuss them amid claims current operations and lives are at stake.

So much so, that when a full version of the report appeared online earlier this year, it was widely anticipated the force would take urgent action to secure a High Court injunction forcing its removal and banning any further publication.

However, it appears the approach it has opted for instead is more akin to "so what?"

We can reveal the force is taking no action to remove the document from the internet after it was leaked online despite previously saying the contents of the report, if made public, could "threaten anti-corruption tactics, current operations and the lives' of informants."

Britain's biggest police force confirmed nothing would be done about the publishing of the full version online earlier this year.

CONTROVERSIAL: The Tiberius report could compromise current policing, said the Met (Met Police)

The Operation Tiberius report was produced in 2002 to summarise the results of an extensive anti-corruption probe that looked at organised crime networks that were suspected of using corrupt police officers to gain information so they could compromise investigations into themselves.

The Tiberius operation was carried out after seasoned detectives complained that it had become impossible to run a proper murder inquiry in east and north-east London because of the level of corruption and interference by criminals.

There have been previous unsuccessful calls in Parliament for a redacted version to be released and members of the Home Affairs Committee were allowed to view it provided they took no notes and handed over mobile phones.

SHOCKED: The late Labour MP Paul Flynn raises Tiberius in Parliament

The late Labour MP Paul Flynn, one of only two members of the committee to take up the opportunity said it was the most shocking report he had seen as an MP.

Tiberius focussed on eight major crime syndicates said to be involved in "drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering and robbery," including the notorious Adams Family gang from north London and one run by late "Brinks Mat" gangster John Palmer.

It also identified more than 40 named current and former detectives who were believed to be aiding the high-ranking criminals.

Tiberius also named a number of criminals who were registered police informants, putting their lives potentially in danger should the contents become known.

When previously asked to discuss what happened in the wake of the Tiberius operation, the Met Police said: "We are not prepared to discuss publicly the details of Operation Tiberius, produced in 2002.

GANGSTER: The Adams gang run by Terry Adams was one of eight crime syndicates named in Tiberius (PA)

"By its very nature it is a secret document that details the threat of corruption to police employees posed by serious and organised criminals."

It claimed the years that had passed since it was produced did not diminish the threat to current policing and intelligence sources of its contents leaking.

It added: "The passage of time does nothing to reduce the very real risks to anti-corruption tactics, intelligence sources or current operations."

Police could seek a High Court injunction against anyone who published such sensitive material, ordering its removal and banning republication.

However, even after being sent by this website a link to the full version of the report published online, the Met said it was doing nothing to remove the sensitive information.

A spokesman initially said: "We do not wish to comment."

When pressed if any action would be taken, the spokesman added: "We don’t intend to take any action to get the report removed from the internet."

Appearing to give the all clear for anyone else to publish the controversial document, the spokesman added that no action would be taken "wherever it is hosted."

Last month we revealed that four fathers and an uncle of cast members past and present of reality TV series The Only Way is Essex had been named among the suspected organised criminals in the Tiberius report.

Through lawyers, one of the dads threatened to seek an injunction if media named him in any reports.

However, it appears there have been no attempts by any lawyers acting for any of the people named in Tiberius to get it removed either.

We contacted those responsible for publishing it to ask if they had received any contact or warnings about removing it from the internet.

They replied: "Nothing has happened so far."

Tiberius was first leaked to the Independent newspaper in 2014, when its existence was first exposed.

However, until now only a handful of journalists, including this website, and former officers were believed to have seen it.

Tiberius was largely based on police intelligence from informants and other sources such as surveillance, undercover operations and covert recordings or phone interceptions. Most of the intelligence allegations made in the report have never been tested in court.

DEAD: Murdered gangster John Palmer ran a syndicate identified in Tiberius (PA)

The Tiberius report recommended a series of actions for the Met Police to take to try to clamp down on organised crime and associated corruption, but according to former senior detectives few of them were ever carried out and the report was effectively "buried".

The Met refuses to address these claims but says it has stringent anti corruption measures in place.

One retired Met detective said: "Tiberius is toxic and that is why they are burying their head in the sand again and doing nothing to remove it from the internet.

"They won't go anywhere near a court with it not even for an injunction because they are scared that even more could end up coming out."