Rogue British government agents did not help plot the raid on Special Branch offices at police headquarters in Belfast, the Northern Secretary said today.
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Mr Paul Murphy revealed a major review found nothing to link the authorities to the break-in at Castlereagh station blamed on the IRA.
He said: "There has, over the months, been a significant degree of speculation about who might have been involved in this incident, including allegations of collusion.
"I can confirm that the review did not uncover any evidence whatever that members of government agencies were in any way involved in the incident, although the police investigation is continuing."
Former top civil servant Sir John Chilcot was called in to carry out a review of national security following the daring theft of Special Branch files during the St Patrick's Night burglary in March 2002.
The infiltration, which caused a huge security headache for police and compromised agents, was blamed on the IRA. The accusation was vehemently denied by the republican movement.
But the raid, coupled with the discovery of an alleged IRA spy ring at the heart of the government's Belfast offices in October, led to complete break down in trust between unionists and republicans.
Mr Chilcot was asked to find out how unauthorised access to the Special Branch office was achieved as part of an investigation to run alongside a major police inquiry.
Detectives are still hoping to extradite Mr Larry Zaitschek from New York. The former chef at Castlereagh was in the complex on the night of the raid.
Papers have been lodged with the Director of Public Prosecutions but a decision has yet to be reached.
In a written ministerial statement to Parliament, Mr Murphy confirmed his report made several observations and recommendations.
Even though Mr Chilcot came to some conclusions about how the raid occurred, Mr Murphy refused to go into detail because of security restrictions.
But he added: "The review was also able to provide a satisfactory assurance about the quality of the police investigation.
"This confirmed the conclusions of a separate review of the professional quality and standard of the investigation, carried out by the Metropolitan Police Service last year at the request of the Police Service of Northern Ireland."
PA