[caption id="attachment_66575" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Iris Robinson."]
A probe into the awarding of a council contract to Iris Robinson's lover has cleared the wife of the Northern Ireland First Minister.
The report, by consultants Deloitte, was commissioned following a BBC investigation.
The Spotlight program revealed that Peter Robinson's wife helped her 19-year-old lover, Kirk McCambley, open a café on the banks of the River Lagan in Belfast with money from two developers.
It also alleged that Mrs. Robinson had failed to declare her interest when the council agreed to award a lease to him.
The report cleared all councillors and officials at Castlereagh Borough Council of breaching government legislation.
The awarding of the lease was decided at a meeting in August 2008.
The report said that while Mrs. Robinson was in the council chamber during the course of the meeting, she was not there when the terms of the lease were discussed.
"That has been very clearly established through security records of people leaving the building," said DUP leader on Castlereagh Borough Council, Jimmy Spratt.
"She wasn't in the meeting at all. After the planning session she gathered up her papers and left the building.
"I had a conversation with her outside the door in the foyer. I saw her leave the building and she never returned to the building."
However, Alliance councillor Michael Long said he felt the council was given insufficient time to debate the 35-page report.
A spokeswoman for the BBC said it stood by its journalism and believed the Spotlight investigation was of "significant public interest" and was "well sourced".
"The BBC conducts its investigations in compliance with strict editorial guidelines. This program was a piece of responsible journalism and a matter of public importance."
Iris Robinson resigned from her positions as a Strangford MP and a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly before the program was broadcast in January 2010. The scandal that followed led to her husband temporarily stepping down as first minister.
