The head of B.C.'s Organized Crime Agency is defending the RCMP in the wake of a CTV News investigation revealing a $2-million payout to an officer fired over unfounded allegations.

Supt. Pat Fogarty disputes allegations made by two former organized crime investigators that a multi-million dollar investigation of the Hells Angels was abandoned because of internal bickering between municipal and RCMP forces.

"Because people are in-fighting…doesn't undermine a prosecution," Fogarty told CTV News.

Former organized crime investigators Insp. Andy Richards and Peter Ditchfield have placed the blame for the collapse of Project Phoenix squarely on the shoulders of the Mounties.

Their colleague and lead investigator Allen Dalstrom was fired in the wake of the project's demise, based on unfounded RCMP allegations. He was eventually handed $2 million and an apology letter to settle a lawsuit against the agency.

But the finger-pointing hasn't ended. Fogarty insists that Dalstrom's firing had nothing to do with the RCMP. He says the decision was made by the agency's board, chaired by the RCMP's commanding officer at the time, Bev Busson.

"I would be shocked if the board was not made privy to all of this, and that the board made the decision," Fogarty said.

That's news to retired Port Moody Police Chief Paul Shrive, who was on the board.

"I know I would remember those kind of discussions, because they don't happen very often in policing. I can guarantee that neither myself nor (retired Abbotsford police chief Ian McKenzie) -- he and I have had these conversations between ourselves -- we weren't involved in this in any way, shape or form," Shrive said.

That leaves only two people who were members of the four-person board at the time: Busson and Jamie Graham, now chief constable for the Victoria police.

Graham declined to discuss the decision to fire Dalstrom. "Any decisions I was involved in are protected by certain board privileges," he told CTV News.

Busson, on the other hand, confirmed that she was involved in the decision, but said she couldn't discuss the details.

"It's a long, drawn-out situation, and I can't really talk about it," she said.

Meanwhile, Shrive says that the latest scandal to hit police in B.C. has tarnished the image of law enforcement.

"We are supposed to be one big team working together. It's supposed to be us guys and the bad guys," he said. "This type of publicity isn't good for policing at all. It doesn't leave the public confident."

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington