According to a report in Wednesday's edition of daily Delo, the judge rejected the NBI's request as early as May on grounds that neither procedural nor substantive reasons for a house search had been substantiated.

The NBI and the court would not comment on whether such a decision was reached, but the daily quotes "reliable" sources according to which the judge rejected the request on grounds that the case was not in local jurisdiction of the Ljubljana District Court and that it was based on unlawfully collected evidence.

Thaler was one of the four MEPs whom Sunday Times journalists, posing as lobbyists, exposed for accepting the offer of a bribe in exchange for tabling amendments in the European Parliament. Thaler was filmed with a hidden camera when accepting the promise of EUR 100,000 a year.

"If the news is true, this is a positive piece of information which means state bodies perform their work professionally," Thaler told Delo in response to the rejection of the request for a house search, although neither he nor his lawyer have been officially notified of the decision.

Thaler, who had stood down in the wake of the scandal, said he expected a hearing before the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in a "foreseeable time".

He noted that the procedure against Spanish MEP Pablo Pablo Zalba Bidegain, who also fell "victim to the provocation by the Sunday Times", had already been completed in the MEP's favour.

The Slovenian Corruption Prevention Commission referred Thaler's case to the NBI and the group of prosecutors fighting organised crime in March after founding a reasonable ground for suspicion of corruption.

The commission expressed concern that proceedings in the case were being conducted at an "explicitly" slower pace than in the other countries the suspects in the same matter come from. "What is more, only in Slovenia is the case stumbling in court on basic investigative acts in a very early phase of pre-trial procedure."

The judge's decision cannot be appealed against, but procedure may continue if the NBI offers new evidence that could lead to new investigative activities.

Delo also quotes Thaler's lawyer Bostjan Penko, who says that five months after the controversy it is not realistic to expect any evidence to be found on Thaler's private premises in Slovenia.