Ahmadshah Malgarai told a parliamentary committee last April that in 2007, Canadian soldiers shot an unarmed man whom they believed had been carrying a gun, and arrested innocent civilians to cover it up.

As well, he accused soldiers of subsequently planting a weapon on the dead man.

A nine-month probe zeroed in on a Canadian operation in the overnight of June 18-19, 2007, that resulted in the death of a 17-year-old male.

But investigators said: "The individual was determined to be an armed threat and a legitimate target."

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service concluded, based on interviews of witnesses and other evidence: "No criminal or service offenses were committed in relation to this incident."

Malgarai testified before a panel investigating claims that Canadian forces transferred detainees to Afghan authorities despite a risk that the prisoners would be tortured.

The former translator said such transfers had taken place and accused the Canadian forces of "subcontracting torture."

Several international human rights treaties prohibit the transfer of detainees to a location or authority if they face a credible risk of torture or other abuse.

Canada currently has 2,830 troops deployed in Afghanistan.

In response to the accusations, Defence staff chief General Walt Natynczyk last year insisted that appropriate "rules of engagement" had been followed in the 2007 shooting and raid of a compound where improvised explosive devices were being made for use against Kandahar airfield.

Malgarai said he had personally interrogated detained Afghans following the 2007 killing at the insistence of Canadian troops to determine whether they had any links to the Taliban.

"After the Canadian Forces wrongly killed a man, they panicked, they swept through the neighborhood, arresting people for no reason. They arrested over 10 men from about 10 to 90 years old," said the Afghan-Canadian who was codenamed Pacha during his tenure as translator.

"None did anything wrong except to be at home when the Canadian Forces murdered their neighbor," he said, adding that Canada had transferred "these innocent men" to the Afghan security forces.

Another allegation that an Afghan National Directorate of Security official had proposed killing a sick detainee rather than accept his transfer from Canadian custody and help cover it up was also dismissed for a lack of evidence.

As well, investigators said Malgarai's testimony in regards to another detainee who was purportedly denied medication brought for his use by a member of his family was fraught with inaccuracies.

"There was a detainee with a different name who underwent life-saving surgery to remove a kidney due to a pre-existing medical condition that no medication could have treated," said the investigators' report.

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