Toronto Police Service has offered a settlement to a whistleblower who accused the force of sweeping internal corruption allegations under the carpet, the officer's lawyer says.

Sgt. Jim Cassells, a 30-year veteran and a key investigator on a special task force into the city drug squad, went public last May with accusations that police brass covered up, refused to investigate and buried cases involving police brutality, public complaints and internal corruption.

He was then charged under the Police Services Act after speaking with the media.

Outside a disciplinary hearing Wednesday, Cassells' lawyer Leo Kinahan said the service is now offering a deal so the charges are never aired publicly during an open hearing.

"If there is a resolution made, then obviously there is no hearing on certain issues," said Kinahan.

Last fall, police Chief Bill Blair promised a review into those allegations that he said would be made public, but later said any inquiry would have to wait until the resolution of criminal trials for six former drug squad officers. They are set to begin in January 2008, and could take years.

The police force won't discuss the case. Details of the settlement have not been released.