Ottawa: A former Canadian immigration judge
was today found guilty of trying to coerce sex from a South
Korean woman in exchange for granting her asylum, the court
told agency.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Thea Herman ruled former
Immigration and Refugee Board judge Steve Ellis, 50, was
guilty of breach of trust and bribery in relation to the
refugee application.
Prosecutors alleged that in September 2006, Ellis met
with Ji-Hye Kim, then 25, at a Toronto coffee shop and said he
would deny her refugee claim unless she agreed to an "intimate
relationship."
During the trial, the court was presented with audio and
video recordings of their conversation, which was secretly
recorded by Kim and her boyfriend.
In the recordings, Ellis said, "Let me see what I can do.
I`m going to work on it. I really want to be friends with
you."
"You`ve got a boyfriend. I`ve got a wife," he said.
"Don`t worry. I`m not going to be demanding. I`m not going to
ask you to move in with me or anything like that."
"I`m not going to fall in love with you."
Before being appointed as an immigration judge, Ellis was
a Toronto city councilor from 1991 to 1997.
Kim was seeking asylum in Canada from an abusive father
and threats from money lenders in her home country of South
Korea. Ellis is to be sentenced on June 4.
PTI
