RCMP begins probe into refugee judge allegations

Updated Wed. Oct. 4 2006 11:12 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The RCMP has launched an investigation into allegations that an Immigration and Refugee Board judge offered to approve a South Korean woman's immigration application if she agreed to have an affair with him.

The woman's boyfriend, Brad Tripp, secretly videotaped an encounter between judge Steve Ellis and the 25-year-old woman known publicly only by her surname, Kim.

She was summoned by the RCMP Tuesday night along with Tripp to provide a statement about the sexual misconduct they say took place, and which appears to be captured on the video.

The couple handed the video -- which was first broadcast by CTV News on Monday -- to the Mounties on Tuesday. The force launched an investigation into the allegations the same day, RCMP spokesperson Michelle Paradis told the Toronto Star.

The couple said they first brought their concerns to the attention of the IRB two weeks ago when they mailed a copy of the tape to IRB chair Jean Guy Fleury.

In a statement on the board's website, Fleury said he became aware of "allegations of a serious breach of the member's code of conduct" last Wednesday. In the statement Fleury said he removed Ellis from hearing cases the next day, until an internal probe could get to the bottom of the allegations.

Ellis was also banned from IRB property.

"The allegations of misconduct in this instance are very serious," Fleury said in the statement.

"Canadians have a right to demand that the IRB's processes are conducted in an ethnical and fair manner. There is no tolerance for abuse of any kind in this institution."

The stunning allegations of sexual misconduct are believed to be the first of their kind involving an IRB judge since the board was created in 1989.

However, annual statistics of complaints against IRB members are not available.

Dominique Forget, a spokesperson for the IRB, refused to disclose details of the case, such as whether Ellis is still being paid or whether investigators will look into some of the 1,279 refugee claims he has adjudicated in the past.

"We'll look at what happened here and go from there," Forget told the Star in a Tuesday phone interview from Ottawa.

The video shows Ellis meeting with Kim outside of his chambers. He brought her confidential case file along.

"Let me see what I can do. I'm going to work on it. I really want to be friends with you," he told her.

Ellis told Kim he planned to deport her but had second thoughts.

"The initial one was no, but now that I know you, I'm not going to be able to sleep if I say no. I won't be able to sleep," he said.

Ellis, a former two-term Toronto city councillor, sought Kim out on two separate occasions after first hearing her case in July.

"I had no choice. When he asked me for the coffee, I had to meet him. I was afraid he would say no, deny my case," Kim told CTV News.

In the 45-minute video, Ellis tells Kim she's as beautiful as a model, offers to find her work and suggests he can approve her application if she has an affair with him, though he warns her not to tell her boyfriend.

Ellis seems to understand this risk of doing this.

"If we do this and it's shown I did this for improper purposes, then you are screwed too. We are both screwed. I'm in big trouble and your status is gone," he tells Kim in the video.

Ellis has so far refused to comment.