Bobby Madden has insisted VAR reached the "right decision" not to award Rangers a penalty against Celtic but admitted it wasn't "the best of processes".
The former Scottish Premiership official weighed in on the hotly-debated incident where Alistair Johnston appeared to handball in the box at Celtic Park.
Referee Nick Walsh did not point to the spot and a VAR check did not tell the whistler to review his onfield decision with Willie Collum not believing there had been a handball infringement.
Later, images were distributed to broadcaster Sky Sports to show an offside in the build-up to the penalty appeal, however Madden suggested the image may have been shared to "muddy the waters" after potential "panic" over the handball incident.
Madden - speaking on BBC Open All Mics - explained the protocol for referees, stating: "The correct process there...I think the first thing to identify in this instance is the VAR did not believe that was a handball.
"It wasn't identified on the field of play by the match officials, then it goes to the VAR who didn't believe that that was a handball.
"Thereafter you have all the conjecture and discussion on what did they believe was the right decision, was there offside? But the correct process would be, if the VAR did believe there was a handball offence they would advise the match referee who would be called for an onfield review over to the monitor, they would show the incident. If the referee then agreed it was handball they would say 'Right, okay but prior to the handball there is this offside offence' and then the play would be restarted with the offside.
"In fact at the start of December in a match between Livingston and Hibs this exact outcome or exact process was followed for a decisive goal in that match. That's exactly how it would play out.
"The issue here is that the live broadcaster didn't probably have the knowledge and understanding of the protocol or process. Then when you share the offside image all that does is fuel the hysteria and paranoia that already surrounds this fixture."
Madden - who also spent time as a referee in England - believes the handball incident was "punishable" but insisted it would never have been given due to the offside.
"I think it is absolutely a punishable handball," he said. "I think that incident in isolation is without doubt, in current guidance, a penalty kick. I am surprised to hear that that is the opinion of the SFA at that point.
"People say, you see the referee has a clear and unobstructed view but at real time I don't believe it is that easy to detect and that's not just me trying to support the referee. These things happen so quickly, he actually doesn't believe there is any contact by the Celtic player at all because he restarts with the goal kick.
"I can understand why the referee doesn't identify it but in my opinion, the referee would be disappointed when at full-time he is presented with the image because you would rather have the opportunity to look at that.
"The right decision was reached and the penalty wasn't awarded but how we arrived at that, I don't think, was the best of processes."
On why the offside images were distributed when Collum had not noted a handball infringement in the incident, Madden added: "It's difficult to say, I can't put myself in the position of the people at the SFA who are reviewing the clips and passing these images to the broadcaster.
"I honestly can't say but there would be a degree of panic there, 'We need to actually look at this, this is a punishable handball but in the build-up there has been an offside'. So have they done that to potentially try and muddy the waters and say, 'Look it doesn't matter, you can discuss all day whether you think this is a handball or not but the offside offence prior to that would have meant no penalty would ever have been awarded."
