RCMP Officer Arrested for Leaking Information to Rwandan Government

An RCMP patch is seen on a uniform in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

An RCMP officer has been arrested for allegedly accessing the national police force’s record systems to help the Rwandan government.

The RCMP said in a Feb. 13 that Const. Eli Ndatuje, an Alberta RCMP front-line police officer, is facing three charges in relation to accessing “non-Top Secret RCMP records systems” and intending to share the information with a “foreign actor.” The police force later identified the foreign actor as the Rwandan government.

“Upon learning of the security breach, the RCMP implemented measures to monitor, mitigate and manage any further unauthorized disclosures and ensure maintenance of public safety as the investigation unfolded,” the RCMP said in a statement.

“The RCMP takes threats to the security of Canadians very seriously and wants to reassure everyone that our primary focus is the safety and protection of the public at all times.”

Const. Ndatuje is facing charges of breach of trust, unauthorized use of a computer, and breach of trust in respect to safeguarded information, which is related to the Security of Information Act.

His first court appearance is scheduled for March 11 at the Calgary Provincial Court.

“The RCMP is committed to combatting foreign actor interference at all levels and is actively leveraging all tools at its disposal. Foreign interference takes on many forms and it is critical that all organizations are aware of the potential harm at any levels,” the statement said.

It added that there will be no further comments on the case.

“The criminal investigation is ongoing and now before the court, and as such the RCMP will not be making any further comments at this time.”

Recent Cases

The development comes on the heels of an RCMP intelligence officer being sentenced to 14 years for leaking state secrets.

Cameron Jay Ortis, the former head of the RCMP’s Operations Research group and National Intelligence Coordination Centre, was sentenced by Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger earlier this month.

Cameron Jay Ortis arrives to the Ottawa Courthouse in Ottawa on Nov. 3, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

In November 2023, Mr. Ortis was found guilty of violating the Security of Information Act. His crimes included disclosing secrets to subjects of police interest, such as criminals and money launderers involved with terrorist organizations.

Mr. Ortis had also extracted sensitive material from the Canadian Top Secret Network—a highly classified network used to share information with Canadian law enforcement and intelligence communities.

The RCMP feared that Mr. Ortis was planning to pass these files to Chinese officials, as he had saved a document on his computer that had images of business cards of two diplomats from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa. Mr. Ortis is an East Asia and China specialist, and speaks Mandarin.

Given credit for time served in custody since his September 2019 arrest, Mr. Ortis will serve an additional seven-plus years.

Mr. Ortis is the first person to be convicted under the Security of Information Act in a trial. In a previous case in 2012, Jeffrey Delisle, a former Halifax-based naval officer who was also charged under the Security of Information Act for sending information to Russia, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He was released on full parole in 2018.

Another recent case where a suspect has been charged under the act is that of Yuesheng Wang, a former employee of Hydro-Québec who is facing charges related to sending trade secrets to China.

Mr. Wang, who has denied the allegations, is the first to be charged with economic espionage under the act.

Matthew Horwood and The Canadian Press contributed to this report. 

Editor’s note: This article was updated after the RCMP identified the “foreign actor” as the Rwandan government.