Former MI5 and British army agent Willie Carlin spoke to Martin McGuinness before the Sinn Féin man’s death.
Mr Carlin, who worked for the security service and the Force Research Unit, infiltrated Sinn Féin during the 1970s and 1980s.
He was later exposed as an agent and forced to flee Derry before being relocated in Britain.
While working for the British his role was to provide information on Sinn Féin’s strategic political thinking.
During his time in the party he became close to several key figures, including Martin McGuinness, who died in 2017.
Mr Carlin has now claimed that almost three decades after his cover as a British agent was blown he and Mr McGuinness shared a short telephone conversation.
The 71-year-old said that in 2011 or 2012 he received a phone call from his friend and journalist Liam Clarke, who died in 2015, while he was attending a “soirée” at Stormont Castle.
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Mr Carlin said the journalist, who along with his wife had previously written a book about Mr McGuinness, asked the Sinn Féin man to speak to him.
“He (Mr Clarke) says ‘McGuinness is here, I’m going to try and button hole him and see if he’ll speak to you’,” explained Mr Carlin.
“He says ‘but I am not sure if he’ll speak to me’ because Liam and Kathryn had written ‘From Guns To Government’ and they didn’t do Martin any good favours.”
“So, he doesn’t hang up and I can hear …. muffling and then I could hear Liam saying something.”
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Mr Carlin said that before he knew it the Deputy First Minister was on the other end of the line.
“And the next thing happened to me was Martin came on the phone. (I) recognised him right away,” he explained.
“‘How are you doing Willie?’”, I says “‘How are you doing Martin?'
“He says, ‘how’s the family?’, I says ‘they’re all fine Martin’.
“He says ‘are you still going to Mass?’, I says ‘Aye, we’re still going to Mass’.
“He says ‘listen, to use your own words, I’m pressing the flesh here’, I have to go on and I’ll see you later’.
“Off he went.”
Asked if he would feel safe returning to Derry, Mr Carlin said he has no desire to go back.
“Well, you see, I have this thing in my head, if I went back to Derry tomorrow nobody would even know who I was,” he said.
“So what would it matter.
“And why would I want to go back?
“I’ve been back, the same people are still sitting in the same pubs talking about the same things.
“Nobody has moved on.”
Read more:Martin McGuinness 'was opposed to the 1981 hunger strike'
