A CHARITIES watchdog has closed its probe into a green energy group paid to process RHI applications that defended not warning Stormont of flaws in the scheme.
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland said it found that decisions made by Action Renewables were "within charity law".
It launched an investigation in January following concerns over comments by Michael Doran, managing director of Action Renewables.
The Belfast-based charity earned almost £250,000 advising on around 550 applications to the botched Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.
Last year Mr Doran appeared on a BBC Spotlight programme and outlined flaws in the state-funded RHI scheme before payments were capped.
During the programme journalist Conor Spackman put it to Mr Doran that the scheme sounded like a "fundamental cock-up", to which he replied: "Yes it is".
However, when asked why no-one within Action Renewables relayed concerns about the scheme to the government, Mr Doran told The Irish News: "That's not what we were employed to do.
"If you're employed on behalf of a client to make an application it would then be ethically improper to then undermine that application by trying to have it withdrawn.
"The fact that the government created the scheme that some people now think is over incentivised is not our responsibility."
The DUP's Simon Hamilton described the comments as "deeply troubling", while Alliance's Stewart Dickson asked the Charity Commission to investigate.
A Charity Commission spokesman said: "The commission has concluded its investigation into Action Renewables, having found that the decisions made by the charity were within charity law and within the scope of its governing document."
