It will call for the establishment of an Organised Crime Commission to which politicians linked to paramilitarism, as well as paramilitary leaders, can be called to testify.
As part of their deliberations the IMC is studying models such as the American grand jury system and Italian measures used against the mafia.
The proposed commission could have powers to employ its own investigators. Legislation would probably be required to enable the commission to compel compliance and offer protection to witnesses who assisted it.
“I could imagine preliminary hearings in private, but part of the process of holding people to account would be later public hearings,” an IMC source said.
The commission is likely to come under the aegis of the IMC but would have additional staff and powers. While the focus will be mainly on Northern Ireland, commission hearings would need a cross-border dimension to deal with smuggling and disposal of stolen goods.
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The IMC was established by the British and Irish governments to monitor the paramilitary ceasefires and hold those connected with terrorist groups to account. It also promotes the transition to a peaceful society and monitors demilitarisation and base closures by the British government.
Last April the IMC issued a report that resulted in fines for Sinn Fein and the Progressive Unionist party (PUP), the political counterpart of the Ulster Volunteer Force, because of violent activities by the paramilitary groups to which they are linked.
In its next report, due out in October, the IMC will deal in more detail with paramilitary fundraising and links to crime of political parties such as Sinn Fein and the PUP.
Most IMC members have a strong international law and order background. They include John Grieve, a former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and Lord Alderdice, formerly presiding officer of the Northern Ireland assembly, both nominated by the British government. Joe Brosnan, former secretary of the Department of Justice, was nominated by the Irish government, and Dick Kerr, a former deputy director of the CIA, by the American government.
Since they began work in Northern Ireland two years ago Kerr and Grieve, in particular, have been struck by the danger that sections of paramilitary groups could move into crime full time, and could gain a political foothold if their activities are not exposed and stopped.
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The IMC’s last report said: “Organised crime in Northern Ireland is significantly greater in its scale, impact and complexity than it otherwise would be because of the involvement of paramilitary groups.”
The idea of a commission has been broadly welcomed by constitutional politicians.