COURT DECISION ON IMMIGRATION OFFICER CONVICTION

R. v. Serré

Between

Her Majesty the Queen, and

Diane Serré

[2012] O.J. No. 2969

2012 ONSC 3672



Court File No. 05-30104



Ontario Superior Court of Justice



C.D. Aitken J.



Heard: January 23-27, 30, February 3, 6-10, 14,

March 12-16, 19, 20, 22-23, April 23-25, 2012.

Judgment: June 22, 2012.

(269 paras.)

Counsel:

Mike Boyce and Carl Lem, for the Crown.

Natasha J. Calvinho and J. Michael Spratt, for the Accused.



________________________________________



TABLE OF CONTENTS



• *

Introduction and Charges

• *

Essential Elements of the Offences Charged



• *

Fraud on the Government under s. 121(1)(a)(II)

• *

Fraud on the Government under s. 121(1)(d)

• *

Breach of Trust by a Public Officer under s. 122



• *

Overview of Immigration Applications and Procedures

• *

Ten Immigration Files/ Similar Fact Evidence (Trial Ruling # 3)

• *

Co-conspirator's Exception to the Hearsay Rule (Trial Ruling # 4)



• *

Did a conspiracy exist?

• *

Was Diane Serré a member of the conspiracy?

• *

Conclusion



• *

Agreed Statement of Facts and Guilty Plea from Dakik Trial (Trial Ruling #2)

• *

Findings Regarding Some Essential Elements Relevant to all Charges



• *

Diane Serré as an Official

• *

Accepted or Agreed to Accept a Benefit

• *

Transmission of Business Relating to the Government/Benefit Crown May Bestow

• *

Duties of her Office

• *

Standard of Responsibility and Conduct

• *

Intention to Use Public Office for Dishonest, Partial, and Corrupt Purpose

• *

Being a Party to a Fraud on the Government



• *

Imad Abdallati Dalank (Counts 1, 2, 3)

• *

Sanaa Salman Chahine (Counts 4, 5, 6)

• *

Daniel Nader (Akkari, Macizi) (Counts 7, 8, 9)

• *

Ibtissam El Zein (Counts 10, 11, 12)

• *

George Zidan (Counts 13, 14)

• *

Kairouz Boulos El Khouri (Counts 15, 16, 28)

• *

Zeinab Zbib (Counts 17, 18)

• *

Sharifa Almoredey (Counts 19, 20, 21)

• *

Fares Hamze (Counts 23, 24, 25, 26)

• *

Elie Badaan (Count 27)

• *

Disposition

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

C.D. AITKEN J.:--

Introduction and Charges

1 Diane Serré stands charged with the following offences under the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46:



• *

Six counts of fraud on the government under s. 121(1)(a)(ii);1



• *

Nine counts of fraud on the government under s. 121(1)(d);2



• *

Twelve counts of breach of trust by a public officer under s. 122;3



• *

One count of bribery under s. 120(a).4

2 At the conclusion of the trial, Crown counsel invited me to dismiss the count of bribery (count 22) in that it had not been proven that Ms. Serré was a public officer under s. 120(a). Ms. Serré is found not guilty of that charge.

3 The remaining charges all relate to Ms. Serré's work as an acting operations supervisor or acting manager with Citizenship and Immigration Canada ("CIC" or "Immigration") at the Ottawa CIC office at 200 Catherine Street during 2003 and 2004. By this time, Ms. Serré had become friends with her esthetician, Vivian Badaan-Dakik, and her husband, Issam Dakik. By the summer of 2003, Issam Dakik and Diane Serré had formed a joint enterprise to make money by helping immigrants with their immigration files. Mr. Dakik let it be known in the Lebanese community that, for a price, he could make things happen on immigration files because he had someone helping him within Immigration. Diane Serré was that person. Mr. Dakik would meet with the clients, get their basic data, learn about their circumstances, and then get Ms. Serré's help in having the file processed as quickly as possible. Mr. Dakik was the go-between between the client and Ms. Serré. Ms. Serré remained anonymous, and was generally referred to as "the lawyer" in conversations between Mr. Dakik and the clients. Ms. Serré would access the client's file on CIC's database, the Field Operation Support System ("FOSS"), determine what steps needed to occur to move the file forward, and then use her role as acting operations supervisor or acting manager at the Ottawa CIC office to get a result that the client would not otherwise receive or to speed up the process to get the desired result earlier than normally would be the case.

4 Diane Serré, Issam Dakik, Vivian Badaan-Dakik, and others were arrested on December 16, 2004 and charged with various offences relating to immigration fraud. On June 30, 2006, Issam Dakik pled guilty to three counts of fraud on the government under s. 121(1)(a)(i),5 four counts of fraud on the government under s. 121(1)(d),6 one count of being a party to a breach of trust by a government official,7 and one count of bribery.8 At the same time, he pled guilty to numerous charges relating to credit card fraud. On the same day, Mr. Dakik signed an Agreed Statement of Facts summarizing the immigration fraud scheme in general terms and specifically detailing what had occurred in regard to nine immigration files - all of which form the subject matter of the charges against Ms. Serré. Once Mr. Dakik pled guilty to these charges, all charges against Vivian Badaan-Dakik were withdrawn. The charges against Ms. Serré then proceeded to trial.

5 The evidence tendered by the Crown in proof of the fraud and breach of trust charges against Diane Serré can only be described as overwhelming. It consisted of the testimony of 27 lay witnesses (including Mr. Dakik), six expert witnesses, hundreds of wiretapped conversations, two video and audio-taped interactions between Mr. Dakik and a police agent, surveillance observations and videos, a video probe in Ms. Serré's office, off-line computer searches, immigration files, documents seized at the residences of Ms. Serré and Mr. Dakik, documents seized at Ms. Serré's office, cash (including marked bills) seized from a safe at Ms. Serré's residence, fingerprint evidence, and an Agreed Statement of Facts.

6 Three of the expert witnesses, James Hogan, Joanne Fox, and Ron Legault are current or former CIC employees who testified as to (1) the standard policies and procedures that immigration officers are expected to follow when receiving and processing immigration applications; (2) whether the procedures followed in regard to certain immigration applications processed by Ms. Serré or over which she had supervisory authority contained any processing irregularities; and (3) whether they would have processed such applications in the way they were processed, given the nature and extent of the information then available on the files. In a ruling released October 4, 2011, I provided more information about these experts and will not repeat that here. All had extensive experience working as immigration officers and, for varying amounts of time, as supervisors or managers at various inland CIC offices in Ontario. All had independently gone through the files that are the subject-matter of the criminal charges against Ms. Serré and had independently arrived at their own conclusions. Due to his extensive experience and detailed knowledge of the applicable legislation and regulations, I assigned the greatest weight to the evidence of Mr. Legault.

7 In addition to the three expert witnesses from other inland CIC offices, three individuals who worked as immigration officers at the Ottawa CIC office during 2003-2004 also testified. They were Samia Caron, Rémi Larivière, and Chantal Pilon.

8 Diane Serré tendered no evidence at trial. When submissions were made, Defence counsel quite candidly and understandably advised that he had virtually nothing to say in regard to the evidence supporting the charges. The thrust of his submissions was that Ms. Serré was not as culpable as Mr. Dakik. In short, the Defence submissions related to the issue of sentencing, not the issue of guilt.

Essential Elements of the Offences Charged

Fraud on the Government under s. 121(1)(a)(ii)

9 Section 121(1)(a)(ii) of the Criminal Code states:

121(1) Every one commits an offence who



• (a)

directly or indirectly



• ...



• (ii)

being an official, demands, accepts or offers or agrees to accept from any person for himself or another person, a loan, reward, advantage or benefit of any kind as consideration for cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence or an act or omission in connection with

• (iii)

the transmission of business with or any matter of business relating to the government, or

• (iv)

a claim against Her Majesty or any benefit that Her Majesty is authorized or is entitled to bestow, whether or not, in fact, the official is able to cooperate, render assistance, exercise influence or do or omit to do what is proposed, as the case may be;

10 The essential elements of this offence that the Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt are that:



• *

Diane Serré was an official;

• *

Diane Serré demanded, accepted or offered, or agreed to accept directly or indirectly a loan, reward, advantage, or benefit of any kind;

• *

The loan, reward, advantage, or benefit was as consideration for cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence, or an act or omission;

• *

The cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence, or act or omission was in connection with (1) the transaction of business with or any matter of business relating to the government, or (2) a claim against the Crown or any benefit that the Crown is authorized or is entitled to bestow;

• *

Diane Serré was aware that she was an official;

• *

Diane Serré intentionally demanded, accepted, or offered or agreed to accept a loan, reward, advantage, or benefit of any kind; and

• *

Diane Serré was aware that the benefit was in consideration for cooperation, assistance, or exercise of influence in connection with (1) the transaction of business with or any matter of business relating to the government, or (2) a claim against the Crown or any benefit that the Crown is authorized or is entitled to bestow.

Fraud on the Government under s. 121(1)(d)

11 Section 121(1)(d) of the Criminal Code states:



• 121(1) Every one commits an offence who



• (d)

having or pretending to have influence with the government or with a minister of the government or an official, directly or indirectly demands, accepts or offers or agrees to accept, for themselves or another person, a reward, advantage or benefit of any kind as consideration for cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence or an act or omission in connection with



• (i)

anything mentioned in subparagraph (a)(iii) or (iv), ...

12 Diane Serré is being charged with offences under this section as a party, pursuant to s. 21 of the Criminal Code. The essential elements of this offence that the Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt are that:



• *

Issam Dakik had or pretended to have influence with an official;

• *

Issam Dakik demanded, accepted, or offered or agreed to accept for himself or another person a benefit of any kind;

• *

The benefit was as consideration for cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence, or an act or omission;

• *

The cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence, or act or omission was in connection with (1) the transaction of business with or any matter of business relating to the government, or (2) a claim against the Crown or any benefit that the Crown is authorized or is entitled to bestow;

• *

Diane Serré did something which helped or encouraged Issam Dakik in committing the foregoing offence;

• *

Diane Serré had knowledge of the circumstances constituting the essential elements of the foregoing offence; and

• *

Diane Serré intended to help or encourage Issam Dakik in the commission of the offence.

Breach of Trust by a Public Officer under s. 122

13 Section 122 of the Criminal Code states:



• 122 Every official who, in connection with the duties of his office, commits fraud or a breach of trust is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, whether or not the fraud or breach of trust would be an offence if it were committed in relation to a private person.

14 The essential elements of this offence that the Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt are that:



• *

Diane Serré was an official;

• *

Diane Serré was acting in connection with the duties of his or her office;

• *

Diane Serré breached the standard of responsibility and conduct demanded of her by the nature of her office;

• *

The conduct of Diane Serré represented a serious and marked departure from the standards expected of an individual in her position of public trust; and

• *

Diane Serré acted with the intention of using her public office for a purpose other than the public good, for example, for a dishonest, partial, corrupt, or oppressive purpose.

Overview of Immigration Applications and Procedures

15 An immigration officer processes applications for permanent resident status, temporary resident permits, work permits, study permits, and visitor permits. In considering these applications, an immigration officer is guided by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27 ("IRPA"), the Regulations,9 and various Inland Processing Manuals ("IPMs").

16 In 2003-2004, all permanent residence applications and generally all other applications were submitted to the case processing centre in Vegreville, Alberta. The officers at Vegreville could make decisions that were clear and straightforward based on the documentation submitted. If follow-up was required in regard to the file (e.g. obtaining missing documentation) or if questions arose from the documentation filed, then the file would be sent from Vegreville to the local CIC office so that immigration officers could ensure through the receipt of further documentation or through an interview with the client or family members that all requirements were met. On occasion, applications for study permits, work permits, visitor permits, or temporary resident permits were accepted at the local office if circumstances were urgent.

17 Permanent residency applications were divided into different classes: the humanitarian/compassionate class, the spousal/common law sponsorship class, the live-in caregiver class, the temporary resident permit class, and the protected persons/refugees class. At different times, different classes of applicants are given priority. Rémi Larivière recalled that, during 2003-2004, priority at the Ottawa CIC office was given to spousal/common law sponsorship applications, with live-in caregiver and refugee being next, and humanitarian/compassionate ground applications receiving the lowest priority. He recalled that, in 2003-2004, it would take more than a year for an application based on spousal/common law sponsorship to be assigned to an immigration officer after its arrival at the Ottawa CIC office from Vegreville. Chantal Pilon recalled that, during the middle to the end of 2004, they were working on spousal/common law sponsorship applications from 2003. According to both Mr. Larivière and Ms. Pilon, the comparable time lag for applications based on humanitarian/compassionate grounds was at least three years. Samia Caron recalled, with less certainty, that humanitarian/compassionate ground applications received priority at that time. In this regard, I prefer the evidence of Ms. Pilon and Mr. Larivière to the effect that these files received the lowest priority. Ms. Caron did agree with her colleagues that, in 2004, it took approximately three years before a file received from Vegreville was assigned to an immigration officer.

18 Permanent residency applications were handled in two stages. At the first stage, the immigration officer would exercise his or her discretion in determining whether all requirements for approval of that class of application had been met. In certain circumstances, an immigration officer might decide that further documentation or a client interview was required to ensure that all requirements were met. Rémi Larivière estimated that it took from a few days to a few months for stage one approval to be granted. Chantal Pilon estimated the average time as being three to five months.

19 At the second stage, a select group of immigration officers referred to as the Land Unit (including at the time Chantal Pilon and Eric Bélanger) confirmed that criminal record checks and security checks (including fingerprinting) had been done through the RCMP and CSIS, medical reports had been filed with the Medical Branch who confirmed the applicant was not inadmissible to Canada based on medical issues, and the applicant had a valid passport. On occasion, the Land Unit would contact clients for additional information or to schedule an interview or would contact the RCMP or CSIS for updates. Ms. Pilon estimated that the average time for a stage two approval in 2003-2004 at the Ottawa CIC office was six months.

20 When immigration officers made decisions regarding stage one or stage two approvals, they communicated their decisions to clients through letters. I accept the evidence of Rémi Larivière that immigration officers did not telephone clients to advise them of decisions or to provide them with updates. Supervisors certainly did not do that. If clients wanted information as to the status of their file, they had to contact the call centre in Montreal.

21 Temporary resident permits were issued infrequently and in special circumstances to overcome a foreign national's inadmissibility on other grounds. For example, a temporary resident permit could be issued to someone who otherwise was inadmissible for medical reasons. Temporary resident permits were the option of last resort. In the normal course, if a client's visitor's permit, work permit, or study permit expired, that client would be counselled to apply within 90 days through Vegreville for the restoration of status. Temporary resident permits were not to be used to deal with the loss of status because such permits gave the recipient special privileges, such as being entitled to a work permit, health coverage, and social benefits; being allowed to leave and return to the country; and being entitled to apply for permanent residency simply as a result of the passage of time.10 In 2003-2004, an immigration officer at the Ottawa CIC office would not issue a temporary resident permit to an immigrant without first obtaining direction and instruction from the manager or supervisor.

22 At all material times, there was a manager, an operations supervisor, and various immigration officers at the Ottawa CIC office. The manager dealt with staffing issues, statistics, and the overall management of the office. The operations supervisor (referred to in the files as the "OPSO") assigned files dealing with applications for permanent residency to individual immigration officers and acted as a resource person or mentor to the immigration officers. The normal rule was that files were assigned in the order in which they had arrived from Vegreville. If a file was to be given priority, that was a decision to be taken by the operations supervisor or the manager and, in the normal course, a note was placed on the file providing reasons for the preferential treatment.

23 Files dealing with work permits or study permits were worked through by the immigration officers who, when they had time, would sign out and process the next file in the pile. On occasion, where there was urgency, the operations supervisor might pull a work or study permit file and assign it to an immigration officer.

24 Before a stand-alone work permit was granted, the applicant had to submit a signed and completed application form, provide a valid passport, and provide proof of means of support. The applicant also had to submit proof of employment from the prospective employer. The employer would have applied to Human Resources Development Canada ("HRDC")11 for confirmation that there were no other Canadian citizens or permanent residents who could perform the task. If HRDC approved the job offer, the employer would provide the validation to the employee who had to submit it to CIC with his or her application for a work permit. Immigrants entitled to an open work permit not linked to a particular job and employer were not required to obtain HRDC validation.

25 It is very clear from the legislative and regulatory framework and the IPMs that immigration officers had discretion as to whether or not to grant an application for permanent residency, temporary residency, work permits, or study permits. That discretion was not to be fettered by a manager, supervisor, or co-worker. A manager or supervisor could review the file and the immigration officer's decision and could point out matters that the immigration officer may not have considered, but the manager or supervisor was not allowed to instruct the immigration officer as to the decision he or she should make or exert any influence on the immigration officer to make a particular decision.

26 At all material times, immigration officers needed a signed authorization from an immigration client before the officer was free to speak to an immigration consultant or other third party about the client's file. Issam Dakik did not have any such signed authorization from any of the immigration clients referred to in this case.

27 By April 2004, all immigration consultants had to be part of a regulatory body, such as the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, before they could charge fees for representing clients on immigration applications. Issam Dakik was not a member of any such regulatory body.

28 At all material times, if an immigration client, or his or her consultant or lawyer, wanted to see documentation on the client's CIC file that had not been provided to the client in letter form, an application under the Access to Information Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. A-1, had to be submitted. I accept the evidence of Rémi Larivière and Chantal Pilon that it was generally understood in their office that immigration officers were not supposed to provide FOSS printouts to clients or their representatives. Issam Dakik never submitted an Access to Information application in regard to any of the files under consideration in this case.

Ten Immigration Files/ Similar Fact Evidence (Trial Ruling # 3)

29 The offences with which Ms. Serré has been charged relate to ten different immigration files that were handled by the Ottawa CIC office from the middle of 2003 to the end of 2004. The bulk of the evidence in regard to all counts arose from August to December 2004. In all ten cases, Issam Dakik approached Diane Serré for information, documentation, and assistance, and she became involved in some capacity on each of these files. During the month of December 2004, Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré were working on six of these files.

30 In regard to all of these clients, Mr. Dakik held himself out as having access to the clients' files at the Ottawa CIC office and as having influence at that office in a way that could get results that the client would not otherwise be able to obtain. In all cases, including the Badaan file, Diane Serré was the person at the Ottawa CIC office who actually searched the client's file on FOSS and provided information, documentation, and/or advice to Issam Dakik in regard thereto. In regard to all cases, other than the Badaan case, Issam Dakik and Diane Serré worked together to achieve a result for the client that the client would not have achieved or would not have achieved as quickly as he or she did, had normal procedures been followed.

31 On each file, other than the Badaan file, there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Dakik demanded payment of $300 from the client for accessing the client's CIC file and advising the client of its contents. On each such file, aside from the Dalank file where he agreed to accept $250, Mr. Dakik was paid $300 to provide information to the client concerning his or her file. In all cases where additional services were provided prior to Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré's arrest, the clients paid Mr. Dakik an additional sum or sums for those services.

32 In regard to all of the files, other than the Badaan file, Issam Dakik communicated via telephone with his clients and with Ms. Serré. Mr. Dakik used his residential land line or his cell phone. Ms. Serré used her office land line, her residential land line, or her cell phone. On many occasions, Vivian Badaan-Dakik acted as an intermediary in the communication of messages between Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré. During many conversations between these three parties, code language was used. For example, Mr. Dakik usually referred to Diane Serré as "the lawyer" when he was speaking with his clients. When Mr. Dakik, Ms. Serré, or Vivian Badaan-Dakik were communicating about different immigration clients, they rarely referred to the client by his or her name and instead preferred to use code words like "the mechanic" or "Vivian". It was not uncommon for Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré to discuss more than one client during the same telephone conversation.12

33 In regard to all of the files, Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré would not speak over the phone about details of the case, but instead arranged for meetings - usually at the Dakik residence - to discuss the files in private. Frequently, Ms. Serré would go to Mr. Dakik's residence after work. During many such meetings, Mr. Dakik would call the client to pass on information and/or advice. On many such occasions, he would interrupt his conversations with clients in order to consult Ms. Serré. On a number of these occasions, Mr. Dakik would call more than one client while Ms. Serré was with him.

34 At the close of the Crown's case, the Crown brought an application for the totality of the evidence relating to all ten clients and files to be considered in regard to all of the counts on the indictment. The Crown filed a detailed Factum and helpful Book of Authorities in regard to the admissibility of evidence of discreditable conduct (what is often called similar fact evidence). The Defence did not file any materials on the application and made no submissions in its regard.

35 Some of the issues to which the similar fact evidence was relevant are the following:



• *

Ms. Serré's knowledge of the nature of Mr. Dakik's dealings with the clients, i.e. whether he was running a business for profit;

• *

Ms. Serré's role in relation to the processing of clients' files;

• *

Whether Ms. Serré's conduct in regard to the client files amounted to a breach of trust;

• *

The true meaning of certain code terms used by Ms. Serré and Mr. Dakik during their phone conversations;

• *

Whether Ms. Serré agreed to accept a benefit in relation to the processing of client files;

• *

Whether any benefit Ms. Serré agreed to accept was in consideration for her assistance with the processing of immigration cases; and

• *

Whether Mr. Dakik had influence with Ms. Serré.

36 At the conclusion of submissions on the application, I ruled that all of the evidence tendered at trial could be considered in regard to each count and undertook to provide my reasons later.

37 As stated by Binnie J. in R. v. Handy, [2002] 2 S.C.R. 908, at para. 55: "[s]imilar fact evidence is ... presumptively inadmissible. The onus is on the prosecution to satisfy the trial judge on a balance of probabilities that in the context of the particular case the probative value of the evidence in relation to a particular issue outweighs its potential prejudice and thereby justifies its reception". In R. v. B.L. (1997), 35 O.R. (3d) 35 (C.A.), Charron J.A. (as she then was), at para. 10, listed the questions to ask when considering the admissibility of similar fact evidence:



• *

Is the conduct, which forms the subject-matter of the proposed evidence, that of the accused?



• There is no question that the wiretap, surveillance, fingerprint, and documentary evidence sought to be introduced as similar fact evidence relates to Diane Serré.



• *

If so, is the proposed evidence relevant and material?



• The evidence is highly relevant and material. The inference which is sought to be drawn is that Ms. Serré acted in a like manner on the occasion which forms the subject-matter of one charge as she acted on the occasions forming the subject-matter of the other charges. As well, the evidence is being tendered to show the knowledge Ms. Serré had from other dealings with Mr. Dakik relating to immigration clients and the essence of their relationship as developed over time through their work on other files. This evidence relates both to the actus reus and the mens rea in regard to each offence charged.



• *

If relevant and material, is the proposed evidence discreditable to the accused?



• Much of the evidence relating to other charges is not discreditable to Ms. Serré. It is evidence of where and when she went places, where and with whom she interacted, and when and with whom she had various conversations. Some relates to her work habits. Some relates to the timing of her access to various files on FOSS and the nature of her queries. The evidence that is truly discreditable is that where she is providing Issam Dakik with information, advice, or documentation relating to a client file; where she is taking any step on a file that is inappropriate in the scheme of things; where there are discussions about what Mr. Dakik expects her to do; and where there are discussions about money or benefits.



• *

If discreditable, does its probative value outweigh its prejudicial effect?



• The probative value of the wiretap, surveillance, fingerprint, and documentary evidence is extremely high. The similarity between the cases is obvious and reflects a modus operandi for Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré in the operation of their immigration business over a period of months, without any apparent disruption. I have already summarized some of those similarities above. More details will be provided as I review the facts in each case. The issues this evidence relates to are important issues at trial; namely, whether Ms. Serré knew that Mr. Dakik was receiving money for his work on a client's immigration file, whether Ms. Serré agreed to accept or in fact received any benefit for her assistance on those files, whether she realized she was agreeing to accept such benefit for that reason, and whether Mr. Dakik had influence over her. It is arguable that much of the so-called similar fact evidence is not what normally would be considered under this heading but is, instead, simply circumstantial evidence of Ms. Serré's knowledge and understanding in one case based on prior dealings with Mr. Dakik on other cases.



• The prejudice involved in the admission of this evidence is minimal in the circumstances of this case. The evidence is not inflammatory. The activities described in regard to each charge are of equivalent gravity - none is remarkably more reprehensible than any other. The evidence is detailed, specific, and uncontroverted. There is no reasoning prejudice. I must consider the evidence in any event because it relates to other charges on the indictment. The trial is neither lengthened nor made more complex if the similar fact evidence is ruled admissible.

38 In my view, the following passage by Doherty J. (as he then was), at para. 150, in R. v. Sahaidak, [1990] O.J. No. 3228 (H.C.J.), another fraud case, explains why this evidence should be admitted:



• In most cases where a multi-count indictment is before the Court, evidence adduced on one count is not admissible for or against an accused on the other counts. Where, however, the events underlying the various counts are part of an ongoing course of dealings, and where those events are interwoven and interrelated so that as a matter of logic and common sense, the events underlying one count also enlighten and assist the trier of fact in understanding and assessing the evidence on the other counts, then evidence directly relevant to one count is admissible on the other counts as well. R. v. McNamara (No. 1) (1981), 56 C.C.C. (2d) 193 at 284 (Ont. C.A.), aff'd without reference to this point [1985] 1 S.C.R. 662.13

Co-conspirator's Exception to the Hearsay Rule (Trial Ruling # 4)

39 Much of the evidence in this case involved wiretapped conversations between Issam Dakik and immigrants seeking his assistance. Those conversations had significant probative value, independent of the truth of their contents, as circumstantial evidence of the existence and nature of the conspiracy or common purpose of Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré to commit immigration fraud by providing special assistance to certain immigrants in return for benefits. Simply the fact that the calls were made, when they were made (i.e. when Ms. Serré was with Mr. Dakik), and the information available to Mr. Dakik as evidenced by what he said during those conversations (when considered in the context of the rest of the evidence) is all evidence relevant to the joint venture being pursued by Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré as well as Ms. Serré's role in that joint venture.

40 Nevertheless, certain statements made by Mr. Dakik to the immigrant clients - either in person or over the telephone - could be taken as describing Ms. Serré's exact role in the joint venture. The truth of these assertions is relevant to such issues as what she did to assist Mr. Dakik on the immigration files, whether he had influence over her, and whether he paid her any money or other benefit for her assistance. During closing submissions, the Crown asked that these statements be admitted for the truth of their contents on the basis of the co-conspirator's exception to the hearsay rule.

41 As a general rule, admissions are only evidence against the person who made them. However, with offences involving a common design, the statements of one member of the conspiracy made during the course of the conspiracy, and in furtherance of the conspiracy, are admissible for the truth of their contents against all other members of the conspiracy. This rule applies not only to charges for the crime of conspiracy, but also to any offence committed pursuant to a common design. A husband and a wife may be participants in a conspiracy with others.14

42 In R. v. Carter, [1982] 1 S.C.R. 938 at 947, McIntyre J. provided a roadmap for determining when the co-conspirator's exception to the hearsay rule applies.



• In charging the jury on this question, the trial judge should instruct them to consider whether on all the evidence they are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the conspiracy charged in the indictment existed. If they are not satisfied, then the accused charged with participation in the conspiracy must be acquitted. If, however, they conclude that a conspiracy as alleged did exist, they must then review the evidence and decide whether, on the basis of the evidence directly receivable against the accused, a probability is raised that he was a member of the conspiracy. If this conclusion is reached, they then become entitled to apply the hearsay exception and consider evidence of the acts and declarations performed and made by the co-conspirators in furtherance of the objects of the conspiracy as evidence against the accused on the issue of his guilt. This evidence, taken with the other evidence, may be sufficient to satisfy the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was a member of the conspiracy and that he is accordingly guilty.

Did a conspiracy exist?

43 After reviewing all of the evidence at trial, I am left with no doubt whatsoever that a conspiracy existed - the purpose of which was to provide special services to immigration clients in return for money or other benefits. I will not summarize that evidence here, as it is set out in detail below.

Was Diane Serré a member of the conspiracy?

44 In considering whether Diane Serré was a member of the conspiracy, I must consider whether there is some evidence of Ms. Serré's membership in the conspiracy directly admissible against her which raises the probability that she in fact was a member of the conspiracy. There is more than sufficient evidence of her participation in the conspiracy. There are all of the telephone conversations she participated in with Mr. Dakik during which she referred to his immigration clients - either by name, telephone number, or code. There are her telephone calls to some of those clients, pursuant to Mr. Dakik's request. There are all of the surveillance reports of her attending at Mr. Dakik's residence after work - many in response to his request for her to attend. There is her fingerprint on a document provided to Mr. Dakik by an immigration client. There are the off-line computer searches showing her accessing the immigration files of Mr. Dakik's immigration clients after she had received information about them from Mr. Dakik. There are the video probes of her accessing information on her computer. There are the marked bills found in her possession that had originated with one of Mr. Dakik's immigration clients. There are the instructions she provided to other immigration officers regarding some of the files of Mr. Dakik's immigration clients. There is the evidence of the timing of various events in which Ms. Serré participated vis-à-vis the timing of other events in which Mr. Dakik participated. These latter events simply provide the context in which to assess Ms. Serré's own statements and activities.

Conclusion

45 Since I have found beyond a reasonable doubt that a conspiracy, in the sense of a common design, existed, and I have found on a balance of probabilities that Diane Serré was a member of that conspiracy, then I can apply the co-conspirator's exception to the hearsay rule and consider the acts and declarations made by Issam Dakik as evidence against Diane Serré when I consider whether the Crown has proven the charges against her (all of which arise out of that common design) beyond a reasonable doubt.

Agreed Statement of Facts and Guilty Plea from Dakik Trial (Trial Ruling #2)

46 Following a KGB application during the course of the trial, I ruled that those portions of the Agreed Statement of Facts signed by Mr. Dakik, Defence counsel, and Crown counsel on June 30, 2006 that were within the personal knowledge of Mr. Dakik, and the guilty pleas he entered on the same date, were admissible in evidence. Although I found these out-of-court statements met the double requirement of necessity and threshold reliability to render them admissible, I place no significant weight on them when considering whether the Crown has proven the charges against Diane Serré beyond a reasonable doubt.

47 Mr. Dakik's evidence was that he signed the Agreed Statement of Facts while he was in the courtroom at the time of his guilty plea. He did not read the document over in its entirety before signing it. Although he accepted his culpability in regard to the charges for which he pled guilty, he did not necessarily admit the specific factual assertions in the very lengthy and detailed Agreed Statement of Facts. Most importantly, from my perspective, Mr. Dakik testified that the most pressing thought in his mind on June 30, 2006 was to ensure that all criminal charges against his wife were withdrawn and that she was going to be available to care for the family's three children. After having listened to numerous telephone conversations between Mr. Dakik, his wife, and his children captured on the wiretaps, and after having observed Mr. Dakik's demeanour in court whenever his wife or children came up in testimony, I am confident that protecting his wife and children was a very powerful motive for Mr. Dakik that could have led him to be less than vigilant in confirming the precise details in the Agreed Statement of Facts before signing it. In saying this, I do not doubt that Mr. Dakik's counsel, who also signed the Agreed Statement of Facts, had very carefully reviewed the document alongside the extensive disclosure which he had been provided and had assured himself that all statements in that document were accurate and truthful, to the best of his understanding. Similarly, I have no doubt that he did not recommend to Mr. Dakik, and Mr. Dakik did not agree, to enter a plea when the essential elements of that charge could not be established by the Crown.

48 All of the facts stipulated in the Agreed Statement of Facts that relate to essential elements of any of the offences charged against Ms. Serré, and that were in Mr. Dakik's personal knowledge, have been amply proven through other direct and/or circumstantial evidence adduced at the trial. I have found this to be the case even in regard to facts not otherwise established through direct evidence, such as whether Mr. Dakik paid cash to Ms. Serré for her assistance on the immigration files of his clients. The totality of the evidence, without any reliance being placed on Mr. Dakik's guilty pleas and the Agreed Statement of Facts, leaves no doubt whatsoever about Ms. Serré's guilt. Thus, while the guilty pleas and the portions of the Agreed Statement of Facts ruled admissible are totally consistent with the weight of the remaining evidence at trial, and in some cases offer the only direct evidence of a particular fact, they are not needed in order to prove the Crown's case. The rest of the evidence taken in its entirety, and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from it, are more than adequate.

Findings Regarding Some Essential Elements Relevant to all Charges

Diane Serré as an Official

49 An essential element of all s. 121(1)(a)(ii) and s. 122 offences is that Diane Serré is an official. Between January 1, 2003 and December 16, 2004, Diane Serré was employed by CIC as an acting operations supervisor (PM-4) except for the following periods, during which she held the position of acting manager (PM-5):



• *

July 18, 2003 to August 8, 2003

• *

December 1, 2003 to December 15, 2003

• *

March 9, 2004 to March 11, 2004

• *

July 26, 2004 to October 29, 2004

50 Pursuant to s. 118 of the Criminal Code, an "official" means a person who (a) holds an office, or (b) is appointed or elected to discharge a public duty. The term "office" includes (a) an office or appointment under the government, (b) a civil or military commission, and (c) a position or an employment in a public department. The term includes members of the public service in a position of duty, trust, or authority.15 There is no doubt that, at all material times, Diane Serré was an official, and she knew that she was an official. Thus these essential elements in the counts under s. 121(1)(a)(ii) and s. 122 have been met.

Accepted or Agreed to Accept a Benefit

51 In regard to the question of whether Ms. Serré accepted money or benefits from Mr. Dakik, and whether she did so in consideration of the assistance she was providing to him on the immigration files, throughout his evidence, Mr. Dakik did his utmost to minimize Ms. Serré's involvement and culpability in the immigration fraud. To this end, he denied that he had "paid" her anything to assist him. At the same time, he acknowledged that he would give her gifts in appreciation of her help. His evidence was that, on one occasion, he gave her a barbecue. He stated that he might have given her other gifts, but could not remember what. Then he said that he had run out of ideas for gifts and instead would give her up to $200 per file so that she could buy herself her own gift. At the end of the Crown's questioning, Mr. Dakik agreed that, in regard to all of the cases that had been reviewed during the course of his lengthy testimony (by which I find he was referring to all cases but Badaan), he had given Diane Serré gifts (in kind or money) in appreciation of the help she had provided. Mr. Dakik also stated that his wife, Vivian Badaan-Dakik, the owner of Viva Esthetics, had provided free services to Ms. Serré. From the wiretap evidence, it is clear Ms. Serré made frequent use of those services.

52 After reviewing all of the wiretap evidence - which is extensive - I am left with no doubt whatsoever that, in breach of all of the codes of conduct that applied to her, Diane Serré received money from Mr. Dakik and benefits from Vivian Badaan-Dakik for her assistance on the files that form the subject-matter of the charges (other than the Badaan file). Mr. Dakik repeatedly told his clients that he needed the money to pay "the lawyer", i.e. Ms. Serré. He explained in some detail to Raja Nahle how, of the $300 he obtained from clients to get information about the status of their file, he kept $100 and gave "the lawyer" $200. In regard to the subsequent payments Mr. Dakik received when the file had actually been moved forward, Mr. Dakik consistently told clients he needed the money to keep "the lawyer" happy. On occasion, when speaking to Ms. Serré, Mr. Dakik reminded her that their immigration work was "a business"; she never disagreed. Mr. Dakik was in the habit of keeping Ms. Serré informed when he was going to get funds from different clients and had her hold off doing work on the file until there was some certainty that the money would be paid. On one occasion, he told his wife to keep Ms. Serré at his residence, despite his knowing that Ms. Serré was exhausted, because he had just been paid. The logical inference from this communication was that Mr. Dakik was returning to his residence to pay a portion of the funds to Ms. Serré. On one occasion, immediately after Ms. Serré left Mr. Dakik's residence, she was observed going to the bank, making a cash deposit, and leaving the balance of the cash in her purse. When her residence was searched on December 16, 2004, she had $2,800 in a safe in her bedroom, despite the fact that she had recently purchased her home, had done renovations, and had purchased furnishings for the home. Amongst these funds were six $50 marked bills that Fares Hamze, one of Mr. Dakik's immigration clients, had paid to Mr. Dakik days earlier. Finally, it is inconceivable that Ms. Serré would have jeopardized her job and her liberty by engaging in the illegal activities in which she was involved unless it was worth her while financially to do so. She had no personal connection with the immigrants she was assisting. The only difference between them and other immigration clients being processed at the Ottawa CIC office was that Mr. Dakik was being paid handsomely to move their files forward. Ms. Serré had to have received a portion of those financial rewards.

53 Thus, the Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Serré accepted money and benefits in consideration for her cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence, and steps taken or omitted to be taken in regard to the CIC files of the immigration clients referred to her by Mr. Dakik. The details of what Ms. Serré did or failed to do will be provided when the individual files are reviewed. It is evident from the wiretapped conversations between Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré and the evidence of the messages given to Ms. Serré by Mr. Dakik that she realized that the money and benefits she was receiving from him related to the steps she was taking on his behalf in regard to the immigration files. Mr. Dakik tried to suggest at one point that the gifts he was providing Ms. Serré were in consideration of her tutoring his children in French or because she was a friend. I reject this suggestion. There is no question that Issam Dakik, Vivian Badaan-Dakik, and Diane Serré were close friends - that is clear from the wiretap evidence and, I find, a powerful motive for Mr. Dakik to try to protect Ms. Serré from any criminal liability. Nevertheless, as Mr. Dakik said to Ms. Serré, what they were involved in was a business. He shared the profits of that business with her in some proportion. The timing of interactions between Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré and the conversations between them or through their intermediary, Vivian Badaan-Dakik, made it clear that Ms. Serré expected to receive money and was receiving money in compensation for her help on the immigration files.

54 In regard to all of the cases (other than the Badaan case), the Crown has established beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Serré intentionally accepted or agreed to accept, through Mr. Dakik, a benefit from the client concerned, knowing that it was in consideration for her cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence, or act or omission in moving forward that client's immigration file.

55 I have left the Badaan file out of this mix because, at the time of Ms. Serré's arrest, it was at a preliminary stage, and there was no evidence that any monies had been paid or benefits provided in its regard. As well, Eli Badaan was Vivian Badaan-Dakik's brother, and it is possible that Ms. Serré did not expect to receive any compensation when she initially provided information about his immigration file to Mr. Dakik.

Transmission of Business Relating to the Government/Benefit Crown May Bestow

56 An essential element under s. 121(1)(a)(ii) and s. 121(1)(d) is that any cooperation, assistance, exercise of influence, or act or omission in question was in connection with (1) the transaction of business with or any matter of business relating to the government, or (2) a claim against the Crown or any benefit that the Crown is authorized or entitled to bestow. Processing immigration files at CIC is government business. It also involves bestowing benefits on immigrants in the form of work permits, study permits, temporary resident status, and permanent resident status. There is no doubt that this essential element has been established for all counts under both of these sections.

Duties of her Office

57 Similarly, an essential element under s. 122 is that the commission of fraud or breach of trust must be done "in connection with the duties" of the official's office. Ms. Serré's impugned activities under each of the s. 122 counts related to her duties and responsibilities as an acting operations supervisor or acting manager at an inland CIC office where the files of immigrants seeking to reside, work, conduct business, or study in Canada, or seeking to become Canadian citizens are processed. There is no doubt that this essential element has been established for all counts under s. 122.

Standard of Responsibility and Conduct

58 An essential element of the breach of trust charges under s. 122 is that Diane Serré breached the standard of responsibility and conduct demanded of her by the nature of her office. A further essential element is that her conduct represented a serious and marked departure from the standards expected of an individual in her position of public trust.

59 Diane Serré's job description as an acting operations supervisor was set out in detail in a twelve-page job description. One of those responsibilities was to ensure that everyone within her office working on an immigration file did so in compliance with legislation, regulations, and department standards and policies. She did not apply that standard to herself.

60 The Citizenship and Immigration Code of Conduct ("Code of Conduct") came into effect in 1997 and remained in effect through to the time of Ms. Serré's arrest on December 16, 2004. On September 30, 1997, Ms. Serré signed a confirmation of having received the Code of Conduct. Some of the provisions in that Code of Conduct of particular relevance to the charges against Ms. Serré are the following:



• *

"... it is important that the public maintain confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the Department."

• *

"As employees of the Department, we are required to apply fairly, consistently and courteously, the provisions of the law."

• *

"One of the basic rights of clients is that we respect the confidentiality of the information they provide to us."

• *

"Conflict of interest situations arise where an employee's personal assets, financial affairs or other interests place that person in a real, potential, or apparent conflict with his or her public duties and responsibilities and could affect the employee's Judgment to act in the best interests of the Public Service."

61 Of particular importance are the sections dealing with gifts and preferential treatment:

E. Conflict of Interest



• i.

Obligations Under the Code

Employees should pay particular attention to the following obligations described in detail in the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code:



• ...



• 4.

refusing to accept gifts, loans, hospitality or other favours which could influence them in the performance of their duties. Occasionally, small gifts such as flowers, and/or casual hospitality such as business lunches or post-conference receptions, may be accepted within reasonable bounds, as long as it is a normal and appropriate expression of business courtesy. However, you must report to your manager any gift, benefit, advantage, or favour, whether it can be politely refused or returned to the client, and the circumstances in which it was made.

• 5.

avoiding preferential treatment in relation to any official matter to family members or friends, or to organizations in which the employee, family members or friends have an interest. Care must be taken to avoid being placed, or appearing to be placed, under obligation to any person or organization that might profit from special consideration by the employee.



• Employees must not, without the prior permission of their supervisor, offer assistance in dealing with the government to any individual or entity where such assistance is outside the official role of the employee.

62 Of equal importance are the sections dealing with confidentiality of information.

J. Respect for the Confidentiality of Information



• i.

The Oath of Office and Secrecy



• Like every employee of the Public Service of Canada, you took the Oath of Office and Secrecy when you were hired. Therefore, you are bound by its requirements to protect confidential information.



• By taking this oath, you swore or affirmed to refrain from disclosing any information that you might become aware of while doing your job. You must not disclose information about policies, programs, practices, procedures or cases of the Department to which the public does not have official access. ...



• ii.

The Legislative Framework



• The confidentiality of information about clients and their affairs must be maintained. You must not disclose this type of information to anyone other than the client or an authorized representative, except in cases authorized by a statute. ...



• As well, you are not allowed to access this type of information unless your work requires you to do so, or to use confidential information for gain or financial benefit for yourself, your relatives, or any other person.

63 The Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service ("Values and Ethics Code") as well as the CIC policy entitled "A Guide to the Acceptance of Gifts, Hospitality and Benefits" ("Guide re Gifts") came into effect on September 1, 2003 and remained in effect through to the time of Ms. Serré's arrest on December 16, 2004.

64 The Values and Ethics Code emphasizes the importance of maintaining public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity, and impartiality of government. It gives extensive guidelines regarding the avoidance of conflicts of interest. It specifically provides that public servants should not accept economic benefits, they should not step out of their official roles to assist individuals and give them preferential treatment, and they should not knowingly take advantage of, or benefit from, information that is obtained in the course of their official duties and that is not generally available to the public. In regard to the acceptance of gifts, hospitality, and other benefits, such are only permissible if they are infrequent and of minimal value, arise out of activities or events related to the official duties of the public servant concerned, are within normal standards of courtesy, hospitality, or protocol, and do not compromise or appear to compromise in any way the integrity of the public servant concerned or her organization.

65 The Guide re Gifts is very detailed and offers numerous examples of gifts that should be declined. The general guidelines state:



• *

Decline any gift, hospitality or benefit offered in the line of duty with the clear intent to influence your decision making or conduct, or that of CIC, in any given situation.

• *

Decline any gift, hospitality or benefit that might give the appearance of influencing your decision making or conduct, or that of CIC, in any given situation.

• *

Modest expressions of normal business courtesies may be accepted where there is no indication of any effort to obtain preferential treatment. In this regard, CIC does not have a dollar limit, but it considers that the term "modest" means of no appreciable financial value.

• *

Care should always be taken not to offend anyone, but unusual or substantial gifts whose cash values are significant need to be recorded and declined. The issue is not necessarily the face value of the gift, but rather the perception of gaining special access or better service as a result of personal friendships or benefits.

• *

Employees are asked to record their concerns and share them with their supervisors as soon as possible, preferably before the perceived or actual problem manifests itself. The supervisor may then advise that the gift be given to charity or disposed of in another manner or, on rare occasions, he may recommend to the Deputy Minister that the gift be kept by the employee. Only the Deputy Minister may grant permission to employees to accept any gift or benefit, and the decision will be provided in writing. ...

• *

Transparency is the key to avoiding conflict of interest or code of conduct problems. As a public servant, you should therefore conduct yourself with transparency so that your actions will bear the closest scrutiny.

• *

Employees should not extend or accept official hospitality in any situation that is not clearly related to the mandate of CIC and that of the Public Service of Canada.

• *

CIC staff are not to solicit personal gifts under any circumstances, as this would put in immediate question the staff's objectivity and integrity.

66 There is no doubt that, in regard to all ten immigration files forming the subject-matter of the s. 122 offences, Diane Serré breached the standard of responsibility and conduct demanded of her by the nature of her office when:



• *

She disclosed confidential information to Issam Dakik about immigration clients, when he was not an authorized representative for those clients;

• *

She provided copies of confidential documents to Issam Dakik;

• *

She disclosed to Issam Dakik how CIC would handle his clients' files; and/or

• *

She gave preferential treatment to Issam Dakik's clients, albeit in varying degrees.

67 All of this conduct, which I have itemized above as amounting to a breach of the standard of responsibility and conduct demanded of Ms. Serré by the nature of her office as an acting operations supervisor or acting manager at the Ottawa CIC office, represented a serious and marked departure from the standards expected of an individual in her position of public trust.

Intention to Use Public Office for Dishonest, Partial, and Corrupt Purpose

68 Finally, in regard to s. 122, I am persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that Diane Serré acted with the intention to use her public office for a purpose other than the public good; namely, for a purpose that was dishonest, partial, and corrupt. She used her position to make money by providing information, documentation, advice, and/or preferential treatment to Mr. Dakik's immigration clients in a way that she hoped would never be discovered by anyone else within CIC. She took precautions to keep her activity secret; however, those precautions were not enough, as will be seen from a review of the individual files.

Being a Party to a Fraud on the Government

69 As will be eminently clear from my review of the facts of the individual cases, all of the essential elements have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to establish that Issam Dakik committed the offence of fraud on the government under s. 121(1)(d) in regard to all of the cases where that charge was laid against Diane Serré. As well, there is ample evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Diane Serré intentionally helped Issam Dakik to commit this offence. Some of that evidence includes:



• *

She disclosed confidential information to Issam Dakik about the client's CIC files - thereby enabling him to prove to his clients that he had influence within the Ottawa CIC office;

• *

She gave Mr. Dakik copies of confidential FOSS documents relating to the clients so that he could review those documents with the clients - again proving his influence;

• *

She told Mr. Dakik how the clients' files would be processed at CIC and what the clients could expect in terms of communications from the Ottawa CIC office - again proving his influence when those events or communications subsequently occurred; and

• *

She personally called some of the clients to reassure them that things were progressing well on their immigration files as a result of the intervention of their lawyer (i.e. Mr. Dakik).16

Imad Abdallati Dalank (Counts 1, 2, 3)

70 Imad Dalank came to Canada from Lebanon in August 2003 on a six months visitor's visa. On December 16, 2003, he married an old girlfriend from Lebanon who then sponsored his application for permanent resident status. While waiting for his permanent resident status to be granted, Mr. Dalank worked for his uncle at the Sultan Market without a work permit and was paid under the table.

71 Early in the immigration process, Mr. Dalank had hired Rajaa Nahle ("Rajaa"), who helped a number of Lebanese immigrants to complete their permanent residence applications, to renew his visitor's visa and apply for permanent residency, paying her a fee of $200 for the visitor's visa and $500 for the permanent residence application. Rajaa advised him that the applications had been submitted, but then he heard nothing further from her for months.

72 Early in October 2004, Mark Yelle from the Enforcement Division at the Ottawa CIC office went to the Sultan Market, leaving word that he wanted Mr. Dalank to call him. Mr. Dalank immediately contacted a lawyer, Kevin Palframan, who advised Mr. Dalank to retrieve all of his documents from Rajaa. With some difficulty, Mr. Dalank managed to get some papers from Rajaa; however, there were papers missing from his file. Rajaa told Mr. Dalank that she had a friend working within Immigration who might be able to help him.

73 On October 12, 2004, Rajaa called Mr. Dakik to see if he would take on the file. For a fee of $250, Mr. Dakik agreed to pull Mr. Dalank's CIC file to see what was going on. Rajaa provided Mr. Dakik's telephone number to Mr. Dalank and, within minutes, Mr. Dalank telephoned Mr. Dakik and explained his circumstances. Mr. Dakik said he was willing to help, but he could not get information right away due to the strike at CIC. Mr. Dakik instructed him to get Rajaa to call him with Mr. Dalank's immigration information, and Mr. Dakik, for a reduced fee of $250, would then determine where things stood on Mr. Dalank's CIC file. Mr. Dakik told Mr. Dalank to get $250 back from Rajaa so that he could pay Mr. Dakik. Mr. Dalank was successful in doing so. Rajaa called Mr. Dakik later the same night and provided Mr. Dakik with the necessary information.

74 On October 13, 2004, Mr. Dakik tried unsuccessfully to reach Diane Serré. She returned his call on Thursday, October 14th, at which time they agreed that, since she would be on strike at least until Monday, there was no reason for her to go to his house until the weekend. I find that the only reason Ms. Serré would have gone to the Dakik home on October 14th would have been to obtain the information concerning Mr. Dalank so that she could check his CIC file the following day. Since her office was on strike and she could not check any files, there was no reason for her to make the trip to Mr. Dakik's home. This is evidence that the relationship between Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré, though very friendly, was primarily a business relationship.

75 Ms. Serré called the Dakik home on Sunday afternoon to see if Mr. Dakik needed to see her that day. They agreed to meet at Home Depot at 14:30. Mr. Dakik was already at Home Depot when Ms. Serré arrived. She walked past him without either acknowledging the other. Mr. Dakik followed Ms. Serré into an aisle, where they were observed speaking in low voices. Snippets of the conversation that were overhead by a surveillance officer linked their conversation to the Dalank file. I find that, during this meeting, Mr. Dakik provided Ms. Serré with details concerning Mr. Dalank and his CIC file. That Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré were meeting in person instead of doing business over the telephone, and that they were employing counter-surveillance techniques when they did meet, is evidence that the two realized that what they were doing was illegal.

76 In a telephone call to Mr. Dalank later that day, Mr. Dakik advised that he had given his lawyer all of Mr. Dalank's information and the lawyer would report back to Mr. Dakik once the strike at CIC was over. It is clear that Mr. Dakik was referring to Diane Serré when he made reference to "his lawyer" or "the lawyer". Mr. Dakik told Mr. Dalank that he needed to collect the fee of $250 and give it to the lawyer. He said that by the following week he should have papers from CIC in his possession and would show them to Mr. Dalank. He emphasized that nothing should be done to draw attention to the file or suggest that the file was receiving special attention.

77 Meanwhile, at some point between October 8 and October 14, 2004, Marc Yelle had gone in search of Mr. Dalank at his mother's apartment, where he purportedly resided with his wife. Mr. Dalank was not home at the time. When he arrived home later that day, Mr. Dalank immediately called Mr. Yelle and arranged to see him on the morning of October 14th with his lawyer. Mr. Dalank explained how he had retained Rajaa to assist him in renewing his visitor's visa and applying for permanent residency. Mr. Yelle advised Mr. Dalank that CIC had no permanent residence file or application for him, and his visitor's visa had expired. Therefore, he remained in the country illegally. Someone had told CIC that Mr. Dalank was working at the Sultan Market without a work permit, and CIC had sent Mr. Dalank a letter refusing to renew his visitor's visa. Mr. Dalank had never received this letter - probably because it had gone to Rajaa's address instead of his own. After Mr. Dalank had told Mr. Yelle about Rajaa, and had provided proof of his marriage and the sums he had paid to apply for permanent residency and a renewal of his visitor's visa, Mr. Yelle undertook to speak to a supervisor to see if anything could be done to help Mr. Dalank.

78 Following normal procedures, Mr. Yelle first obtained the approval of Lisa McIntyre, the Minister's delegate in the Enforcement Division, for Mr. Yelle's recommendation that temporary resident status be sought for Mr. Dalank. At some point, Mr. Yelle spoke directly to Diane Serré, who at the time was the acting operations supervisor in the Immigration Division at the Ottawa CIC office. She agreed to assign the Dalank file to an immigration officer who would have the final say as to whether Mr. Dalank would receive temporary resident status.

79 On October 18, 2004, the strike was over and Diane Serré did a name search on FOSS for Imad Dalank, obtained his CIC file number, reviewed his Client History, and looked specifically at the Remarks relating to the denial of his visitor's visa. I find that, after work, she took a copy of the FOSS printout to Mr. Dakik's home. While Ms. Serré was there, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Dalank and told him that his visitor's visa had been cancelled (something Mr. Dalank already knew but had not yet told Mr. Dakik), but that Mr. Dakik would fix it. In that Mr. Dakik did not want to speak over the phone, they agreed to meet later at Tim Horton's. During their meeting, Mr. Dalank gave Mr. Dakik $250 in cash, and Mr. Dakik showed him a one-page computer printout which stated that Mr. Dalank's visitor's visa had been refused and a letter to this effect had been sent to him on September 9, 2004. Mr. Dalank told Mr. Dakik that he had never received this letter. Mr. Dakik advised Mr. Dalank to resubmit an application for a visitor's visa, and he would make sure it would be granted. His fee would be $2,000.

80 In a telephone conversation on October 21st, Mr. Dalank advised Mr. Dakik that he was trying to raise the money Mr. Dakik had requested. On October 25th, Mr. Dalank advised Mr. Dakik that he had obtained $1,000 and hoped that he would have a further $1,000 by the next day. Mr. Dakik reassured Mr. Dalank that the most important thing was for him to become legal through getting a visitor's visa, and then his application for permanent residency, with his wife as a sponsor, could be pursued. He warned Mr. Dalank not to apply for refugee status, as that would cancel the application based on his wife's sponsorship.

81 On October 26, 2004, Diane Serré again accessed Mr. Dalank's FOSS file, looking at numerous screens. During the search of Ms. Serré's office on December 16, 2004, a FOSS printout from the Dalank file dated October 26, 2004 was located in a recycling bin under Ms. Serré's desk.

82 After work, Ms. Serré went to the Dakik residence. While she was there, Mr. Dakik spoke to Mr. Dalank, advising him that, instead of getting him a visitor's visa, he was going to get him temporary resident status for a year along with a work permit. They negotiated fees of $4,000 for both permits. I find that Mr. Dakik was able to make this promise to Mr. Dalank because Ms. Serré had told Mr. Dakik that she could do that for Mr. Dalank. Mr. Dalank told Mr. Dakik that he had already been to the Ottawa CIC office and had made an appointment to apply for refugee status because he was having trouble raising money to pay Mr. Dakik. Mr. Dakik became upset. He told Mr. Dalank to return to the Ottawa CIC office the following morning and cancel the appointment. During this conversation, Mr. Dakik consulted Ms. Serré on a number of occasions before providing advice to Mr. Dalank as to what he had to do. Just as Ms. Serré was leaving the Dakik home, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Dalank back to make sure he had a valid passport to take to the Ottawa CIC office to get his temporary resident permit and work permit. Later that evening, Mr. Dalank and Mr. Dakik met at Tim Horton's, and Mr. Dalank paid Mr. Dakik $2,000 in cash. Following this meeting, Mr. Dakik called his wife and asked her to call Ms. Serré to confirm that Mr. Dalank would attend at the Ottawa CIC office the following day between 9:30 and 10:00. Vivian Badaan-Dakik then called and left this message on Ms. Serré's answering machine.

83 Early on the morning of October 27, 2004, Ms. Serré called Mr. Dakik to say that she was working from home that morning and, through code, conveyed the message that Mr. Dalank should come to the Ottawa CIC office between 12:00 and 13:00. Mr. Dakik immediately called Mr. Dalank to advise him of the new time and to tell him to ask to see the manager at the Ottawa CIC office. At that time, Diane Serré was the acting manager. Mr. Dalank did as he was told, but the security guard would not call the manager. Instead, he instructed Mr. Dalank to speak to one of the immigration officers at a wicket.

84 Mr. Dalank spoke to Samia Caron who did a Client History on FOSS and advised Mr. Dalank that he had no status and was in Canada illegally. She advised him to call a central number in order to have an application mailed to him. She refused to call the manager. Mr. Dalank went outside the Immigration office and called Mr. Dakik to advise what had happened. Mr. Dakik said he would call back in two minutes. Mr. Dakik immediately called Diane Serré at work, but could not reach her. Mr. Dakik called Mr. Dalank and told him to go back inside the office and say that his lawyer had just spoken with the manager and the manager was expecting him. Mr. Dakik would not provide Mr. Dalank with the manager's name, but said that she had black hair and coloured eyes. Mr. Dalank did as he was instructed.

85 Diane Serré came and met Mr. Dalank beside the wickets. She gave him applications to complete, and she cancelled his refugee claim. Ms. Serré claimed that she had spoken to Mr. Dalank's lawyer an hour earlier. Ms. Serré left Mr. Dalank to complete the applications on his own and advised him that she would require his marriage certificate and some photos. Ms. Serré did not access Mr. Dalank's FOSS file at that time in order to provide him with this information. When Mr. Dalank was completing the application forms, he called Mr. Dakik to inquire how he should answer a question as to whether he had been working in Canada without papers. Mr. Dakik advised him to leave that question blank. When Mr. Dalank said that the manager had not come back yet, Mr. Dakik said that was because she was pulling his file from Marc Yelle. In the end, the applications were completed, and Diane Serré told Mr. Dalank to come back on Friday, October 29, 2004, to pick up the documents.

86 When Mr. Dalank reported to Mr. Dakik about his success at the Ottawa CIC office, Mr. Dakik said they should meet later that night so that Mr. Dalank could make his final payment to Mr. Dakik and thereby make the lawyer happy just like he had made Mr. Dalank happy. Diane Serré stopped briefly at the Dakik residence after work. Mr. Dakik called Mr. Dalank to advise that someone from the Ottawa CIC office would be calling Mr. Dalank the following day because something was missing from his file; however, that did not mean that there was a problem on this file. This was information that Mr. Dakik had learned from Ms. Serré. Later that night, Mr. Dalank met Mr. Dakik once again at the same Tim Horton's and gave him something.

87 Meanwhile, on October 27, 2004, Marc Yelle had called Mr. Palframan to report that he had spoken to the manager at the Ottawa CIC office (by whom he meant Diane Serré) and she had agreed to look at Mr. Dalank's application for temporary residency; however, there were no guarantees that the application would be accepted. Mr. Yelle advised Mr. Palframan of the list of documents which Diane Serré had said were required before Mr. Dalank's application could be processed: documents confirming that Mr. Dalank was being supported by his parents, wife and aunt; an extension of his Lebanese passport; a letter of support from his family in Canada; a marriage certificate; and proof of his application for permanent resident status. Mr. Palframan advised Mr. Dalank of the contents of his telephone conversation with Mr. Yelle. Although Mr. Dalank understood that his application for temporary residency might proceed in the normal course, he continued to deal with Mr. Dakik and pay him for his services because, considering the apparent influence Mr. Dakik had at the Ottawa CIC office, Mr. Dalank was afraid that, if he did not continue with Mr. Dakik, his application might be denied. On the morning of October 28, 2004, Mr. Yelle transferred the enforcement file he had on Mr. Dalank to Diane Serré.

88 Just before noon on October 28, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré to make sure she had called Mr. Dalank regarding the documents he needed to bring to his appointment the following day. She said he would be called later that day. Mr. Dakik called Mr. Dalank to advise that he could expect to receive a call. Mr. Dalank called back just before 13:00, and Mr. Dakik said he had spoken to the lawyer (i.e. Diane Serré) an hour previously, and Mr. Dalank would be receiving a call shortly.

89 Just before 14:00, Diane Serré spoke with Chantal Pilon about the Dalank file. During the course of that conversation, Ms. Serré stated:



• Mais j'ai demandé à Marc pis euh, y dit que le, euh, he lives with his wife cause he went there ... So he did, he did a house visit. And they don't just go and say hi, they look at everything, they even go into the closets and stuff ... I was a bit concerned about this but spoke with Marc. Marc did a, a house visit and uh, states that uh, client does live with spouse. And the immigration consultant was [Rajaa] something and uh, even has dealt with her before.

90 Shortly after her meeting with Chantal Pilon in regard to the Dalank file, Ms. Serré made a note on the Dalank file stating that a tip had been received stating that Mr. Dalank and his spouse were not residing together. Ms. Serré claimed that Marc Yelle had investigated the tip and had confirmed after a home visit that Mr. Dalank and his spouse were in fact residing together. She went on to state that Mr. Dalank had been counselled to resubmit an application for permanent residence because one had not been received at Vegreville. She stated that a temporary resident permit for one year was approved providing Mr. Dalank was compliant with the requirements to provide necessary documentation. She also approved the issuance of a work permit for the same period.

91 Although there was a tip sheet dated April 14, 2004 on CIC's enforcement file to the effect that Mr. Dalank had been working at the Sultan Market for approximately five months, he had entered a marriage of convenience, and he was not residing with his spouse, Mr. Yelle testified that he had only been aware of the work allegation, not the marriage allegation, when he interviewed Mr. Dalank on October 14, 2004. Mr. Yelle was clear that he had only visited Mr. Dalank's address on one occasion and neither Mr. Dalank nor his spouse was present at the time. Mr. Yelle had never been inside the home at that address, he had never made inquiries about whether Mr. Dalank and his spouse were actually living together, and he had never told Diane Serré that he had confirmed that they were living together. I accept Mr. Yelle's evidence in this regard. I also note that there was no discussion about Mr. Dalank's marital status when Mr. Yelle provided Ms. Serré with the enforcement file.

92 I find that, when giving directions to Chantal Pilon in regard to the Dalank file, and when writing a note to file about Mr. Dalank's marital status, Diane Serré falsely attributed communications to Mr. Yelle for the explicit purpose of supporting her decision to authorize the issuance of a temporary resident permit and a work permit for Mr. Dalank. This is an obvious breach of trust.

93 Later in the afternoon of October 28th, Chantal Pilon called Mr. Dalank and instructed him to bring to his appointment the following day his passport, a statement from his wife's employer confirming her employment status, and one of his wife's paystubs. Mr. Dalank called Mr. Dakik to express concern that he might not be able to get a letter from his wife's employer by the following morning. After work, Ms. Serré went to the Dakik residence, but Mr. Dakik was not there. She called him and arranged to meet elsewhere. Their meeting was very brief. Immediately following that meeting, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Dalank to say that he had just spoken to the lawyer, and it would suffice if Mr. Dakik brought one or two of his wife's paystubs. If for some reason, the person named Chantal would not accept that, he was to ask to speak to the manager.

94 On October 29, 2004, Mr. Dalank returned to the Ottawa CIC office where he met with Chantal Pilon, received his temporary resident visa and a work permit, and paid total fees of $350 for the visa and work permit. Ms. Pilon advised him to fax to her, as soon as he had it, the letter from his wife's employer stating how long she had been working at the restaurant and what she was being paid. That night, Mr. Dalank met Mr. Dakik at Tim Horton's and paid him an additional $2,000 in cash. Mr. Dalank never received a receipt for any of the monies he gave Mr. Dakik.

95 After Mr. Dakik was arrested, he went to see Mr. Dalank at the Sultan Market to ask if the police had questioned him and if he had told the police that he had paid money to Mr. Dakik. Mr. Dalank said yes on both fronts. Mr. Dakik asked Mr. Dalank to go back to the police and change his story. Clearly Mr. Dakik realized that receiving money on the understanding that he had influence at the Ottawa CIC office was illegal.

96 In all of his conversations with Mr. Dalank, Mr. Dakik consistently referred to Diane Serré as "the lawyer".

97 Joanne Fox, James Hogan, and Ron Legault, the three current or former immigration officers qualified as experts, all had concerns as to how the Dalank file had been processed. All agreed that a bank receipt was inadequate proof that an application for permanent residency had been initiated.17 Without proof that such an application had been commenced, there was no basis upon which to extend Mr. Dalank's stay in Canada, aside from restoring his status as a visitor for an additional six months. Had there been proof that an application for permanent residency had been initiated, then all agreed that the issue of a marriage of convenience had to be investigated. Questions that needed answering were whether Mr. Dalank's spouse was eligible to sponsor him and whether the marriage was valid. Finally, all agreed that grounds did not exist for Mr. Dalank to be given a temporary resident permit. The appropriate and normal way for this file to have been handled was for Mr. Dalank to be instructed to apply to Vegreville for restoration of his status as a visitor. Mr. Legault also noted that, when an officer makes a decision, he or she is required to record in writing the reasons for that decision - that was not done on this file, making the decision appear arbitrary.

98 I accept this evidence and find that Mr. Dalank was given preferential treatment by Ms. Serré, not in accordance with IRPA, the Regulations, and the IPMs. This amounted to a breach of trust, as did her sharing confidential information and documentation with Mr. Dakik and knowingly placing false information on the file.

99 All of the essential elements of counts one to three have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sanaa Salman Chahine (Counts 4, 5, 6)

100 Mahmoud Samih Zbib came to Canada from Lebanon in 1993 and became a Canadian citizen in 1998. After the death of his first wife in the late 1990s, Mr. Zbib travelled to Lebanon in search of a wife who would be prepared to come to Canada and help care for his two children. In August 2000, he and Sanaa Salman Chahine entered a marriage agreement in Lebanon, followed by a civil marriage ceremony in Canada in the fall of 2000, shortly after Ms. Chahine had arrived in Canada on a visitor's visa. In April 2001, Ms. Chahine applied for permanent residency on spousal grounds with Mr. Zbib as her sponsor. Mr. Zbib paid $1,500 to CIC, Ms. Chahine applied for CSIS clearance, and Ms. Chahine got temporary medical coverage. Neither Mr. Zbib nor Ms. Chahine realized that she was obliged to renew her visitor's visa on a regular basis until such time as she attained permanent resident status.

101 By the fall of 2004, Ms. Chahine still had not received her permanent resident card. By this time, Ms. Chahine had learned from Mr. Zbib's cousin, Hayat Zbib, that Issam Dakik had helped her and her sister, Zeinab Zbib, get their permanent resident status. Under pressure from his wife, on Saturday, November 20, 2004, Mr. Zbib contacted Mr. Dakik, seeking help with his wife's immigration file. Mr. Dakik called Mr. Zbib back later that day and clarified, in so many words, that he expected to be paid for whatever help he provided to Mr. Zbib. They agreed to meet later the same day at a Tim Horton's. At that meeting, Mr. Zbib and Ms. Chahine told Mr. Dakik all they could about Ms. Chahine's immigration file, including her CIC file number. They did not mention that she had not renewed her visitor's permit or that she was here illegally because they did not realize that she was supposed to renew her visitor's permit. Mr. Dakik stated that he would act as the intermediary between Ms. Chahine and CIC and that he worked with a lawyer. At Mr. Dakik's request, Mr. Zbib paid him $300 which was to go to the lawyer for office administration expenses, including pulling Ms. Chahine's file at CIC. Mr. Dakik advised that Mr. Zbib and Ms. Chahine could expect to receive a call from someone at CIC within a couple of days. It was agreed that, at their next meeting, Mr. Zbib would pay Mr. Dakik $3,000 and, depending on how complicated the file was, more money might be required later.

102 After his meeting with Mr. Zbib and Ms. Chahine, Mr. Dakik called his wife, who asked how the meeting had gone. Mr. Dakik reported that he would call "her" so that they could take on the case. He acknowledged having been paid. They discussed trying to get hold of "her" so that they could all meet at Home Depot. Vivian Badaan-Dakik then tried to reach Diane Serré to set up a meeting at Home Depot. Subsequently, Mr. Dakik reached Ms. Serré by telephone, and they agreed to meet at Loblaws. I find that, when they met, Mr. Dakik provided Ms. Serré with Ms. Chahine's CIC file number.

103 In the morning on Monday, November 22, 2004, Ms. Serré accessed Ms. Chahine's CIC file on FOSS using her file number and looked at the Client History, Remarks, and details concerning her application for permanent residence. She then phoned CSIS to inquire about the status of Ms. Chahine's security clearance, a request for which had been submitted in July 2004. Ms. Serré was advised that CSIS had received the request only on October 12th and that normally the process took about two months. Ms. Serré expressed shock that the process was so delayed and tried to pressure the CSIS representative into speeding up the release of the security clearance. The CSIS representative suggested she call back in a couple of weeks. Chantal Pilon testified that it was the duty of the land unit officers, such as herself, to call outside agencies like CSIS for updates. This was not something one would expect a supervisor or manager to do.

104 At the end of the workday on November 22nd, I find that Ms. Serré printed out the FOSS documents from the Chahine file to show to Mr. Dakik. As soon as she had done that, she went to the Dakik residence where, I find, she provided the FOSS documents to Mr. Dakik. While Ms. Serré was at the Dakik residence, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Chahine to advise that there was a problem on her file - something that had arisen within days of her arrival in Canada. He then spoke to Mr. Zbib and agreed to meet him later at Cremino's, a Lebanese pastry shop owned by Mr. Dakik's friend, Ali Nasser. He then called Ms. Chahine back saying that she had never renewed her visitor's permit in Canada and, consequently, she was in Canada illegally. As a result, the file was more complicated than Mr. Dakik had thought, and it was going to cost more to get Ms. Chahine her permanent resident status. Mr. Dakik told Ms. Chahine that he was sitting with the lawyer (i.e. Ms. Serré) at the time, and the lawyer was explaining everything to him.

105 Later, on November 22, 2004, Mr. Dakik met with Mr. Zbib at Cremino's, at which time he showed him the FOSS printout from Ms. Chahine's file that he had obtained from Ms. Serré shortly before. The document indicated that, when Ms. Chahine had arrived in Canada, the immigration officer had seen photographs of Mr. Zbib and Ms. Chahine in Lebanon that suggested that they were already married. The immigration officer concluded that Ms. Chahine could not come to Canada as a visitor if she was already married, and he gave her permission to stay in Canada for only one month. The document also noted that Ms. Chahine had obtained her security clearance on two occasions. At this meeting, Mr. Dakik asked for $3,000 and indicated that the total bill would be between $6-7,000. In an effort to justify his price, Mr. Dakik advised Mr. Zbib that he had handled very difficult cases for others whom they knew, such as Moussa Reda and Samir Oleick, and had charged Mr. Reda $20,000. Mr. Dakik told Ms. Chahine that she could expect a call from someone at Immigration within a couple of days. Prior to that, Ms. Chahine had never received a call from any Immigration officials.

106 During their discussions, Mr. Dakik advised Mr. Zbib that money would go to the lawyer and to the people inside Immigration, with only a small amount left over for him. He said that every time the case was more complicated, the people within Immigration would ask for more money and that was why their fees would increase. He did not say how much of the money he would keep for himself.

107 Mr. Zbib told Mr. Dakik that he would discuss his proposal with Ms. Chahine and get back to him. The following day, November 23, 2004, Mr. Zbib advised Mr. Dakik that he and his wife wanted him to act on their behalf, and they would pay the requested money the next day.

108 On November 24, 2004, at about 16:00, Mr. Dakik and Mr. Zbib agreed to meet at Cremino's at 17:00. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré to ensure that she was coming to his home after work. Mr. Zbib met Mr. Dakik at Cremino's as arranged and paid him $3,000 in cash. He did not receive a receipt. On that occasion, Mr. Dakik advised Mr. Zbib that Ms. Chahine should receive a call from Immigration the following day and that she should have her permanent resident status by Christmas.

109 On November 25, 2004, Diane Serré called Ms. Chahine to advise that Immigration was working on her permanent residence application as a result of representations from her lawyer. Ms. Serré said Immigration hoped to finalize the application within four to six weeks and that it would require a valid passport and a security clearance. Ms. Serré did not identify herself during the telephone conversation. After work that day, Ms. Serré went to the Dakik residence for a brief encounter with Mr. Dakik which, I find, was for Mr. Dakik to be briefed on Ms. Serré's telephone call with Ms. Chahine, for Mr. Dakik to pay Ms. Serré her portion of the $3,000 he had received from Mr. Zbib, and for Mr. Dakik to give Ms. Serré Ms. El Zein's name and file number. Later the same day, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Chahine to inquire why she had not immediately told him that she had heard from Immigration. He confirmed that it had been a female who had called. He also undertook to cancel any interview that Immigration might otherwise have conducted to ensure that the marriage between Mr. Zbib and Ms. Chahine was valid.

110 Chantal Pilon testified that, when she was working on the stage two approval for Ms. Chahine, Diane Serré came to see her on many occasions to inquire whether the background checks had passed. On a couple of occasions, Ms. Serré asked Ms. Pilon to call CSIS to get an update as to when the clearance could be expected. During the inquiry Ms. Pilon made on December 8, 2004, CSIS undertook to expedite the file.

111 During a telephone conversation between Mr. Zbib and Mr. Dakik on November 28, 2004, Mr. Dakik rejected Mr. Zbib's suggestion that they join forces in the immigration business. Mr. Dakik emphasized that his business was highly sensitive and that he did not want to attract any attention or harm anyone on the inside. Although he stated that he was not doing anything illegal, he implied that the lawyer with whom he was working had his own style and got special treatment for his clients, but favours were forbidden at Immigration. Mr. Dakik claimed that the $300 fee he obtained from clients to look at their files had to be paid to the lawyer. During his evidence, Mr. Dakik claimed that the $300 represented his fees, not Ms. Serré's. I reject this testimony and find that all or most of the $300 he charged his clients to have their files pulled was given to Ms. Serré, as Mr. Dakik confided to Mr. Zbib.

112 Mr. Zbib did not pay Mr. Dakik any more money. Before Ms. Chahine obtained her permanent resident status, Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré were arrested. Mr. Zbib contacted Mr. Dakik to retrieve his $3,000. Mr. Dakik said he could not speak to Mr. Zbib at that time, and he told Mr. Zbib not to say anything to the police about what Mr. Dakik had promised to do or about the payment of money to him. As an aside, it took until 2009 for Ms. Chahine to obtain permanent resident status through the normal channels.

113 During the search of Ms. Serré's residence on December 16, 2004, paper was seized from a shredder in the basement. A paper reconstructionist was able to reassemble parts of some documents - two being FOSS printouts relating to Sanaa Salman Chahine.

114 Prior to Ms. Serré calling Ms. Chahine to provide a progress report on the status of her file, Ms. Chahine had never received a telephone call from CIC. She had only ever received letters. Both Chantal Pilon and Rémi Larivière testified that CIC would not simply call clients to update them on their files. There were other ways by which clients could obtain information regarding their files; for example, they could use their M.P.s or lawyers as intermediaries, or they could contact the call centre. Rémi Larivière confirmed that there was nothing in the job description for a supervisor that would involve the supervisor making calls to third parties to provide updates on files.

115 On this file, in addition to the breach associated with providing confidential information and documentation to Mr. Dakik, Ms. Serré's breach of trust involved providing Ms. Chahine with preferential treatment by calling her personally to provide a progress report, contacting CSIS for an update, pressuring CSIS to process Ms. Chahine's file more quickly, and instructing Chantal Pilon on a number of occasions to contact CSIS for updates. Ms. Serré was providing this preferential treatment for her own financial gain.

116 All of the essential elements of counts four to six have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Daniel Nader (Akkari, Macizi) (Counts 7, 8, 9)

117 Daniel Nader was born in Venezuela, where his family used the name Macizi. When he was ten, his family moved to Lebanon where they used the name Akkari. In 1992, Mr. Nader lived in Halifax for approximately nine months. During this period, he was charged with two criminal offences. He returned to Lebanon before those cases came to trial. In 2002, Mr. Nader returned to Canada on a visitor's visa that was valid initially for six months. Shortly after his arrival, he met Rita Lavallée - a woman twenty years his senior - and within days they started living together. On May 28, 2003, they married, and Ms. Lavallée then sponsored Mr. Nader in his application for permanent resident status.

118 In December 2003, Mr. Nader contacted Issam Dakik to ask him questions relating to his application for permanent resident status. Mr. Dakik said he could not provide any information until Mr. Nader had paid $300 and provided Mr. Dakik with his CIC file number. Mr. Nader took no further steps at that time.

119 Meanwhile, in February 2004, Mr. Nader's permanent residence application was sent by Vegreville to the Ottawa CIC office for investigation and determination. In May 2004, Mr. Nader was advised by the Ottawa CIC office that it would take two to three years to process his application. In the meantime, Mr. Nader was obliged to regularly renew his visitor's visa.

120 In August 2004, Mr. Nader again sought Mr. Dakik's help. He met Mr. Dakik at a Middle Eastern restaurant on St. Laurent Blvd., paid him $300 to open the file, and provided him with his CIC file number. Mr. Nader provided Mr. Dakik with no additional information. Mr. Dakik did not provide Mr. Nader with a receipt.

121 A few days later, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to say that he had information about his file. They met again. Mr. Dakik had a computer printout from which he read out information concerning Mr. Nader's immigration application. Mr. Dakik would not let Mr. Nader see the actual document. Mr. Dakik knew when Mr. Nader had married. He advised that there were outstanding criminal charges against Mr. Nader in Halifax and that those papers had to be withdrawn before Mr. Nader's permanent residence application could be finalized. As it happened, Mr. Nader had become aware of those charges when, a few months earlier, he and Ms. Lavallée had travelled to Niagara Falls and had tried to enter the United States. Mr. Nader was told by the American immigration officer to speak to officers at Canadian Immigration. They advised him that he had no status yet in Canada and there were outstanding criminal charges in Halifax. Mr. Nader had not done anything about those Halifax charges before they were raised by Mr. Dakik, and he had not previously advised Mr. Dakik about the charges. On August 12, 2004, Mr. Nader contacted the authorities in Halifax and asked for the charges to be withdrawn. They did so and sent a confirmation letter to Mr. Nader.

122 On August 26, 2004, Diane Serré reviewed Mr. Nader's Client History on FOSS, including Work in Process and Remarks, returning repeatedly to one document. At 17:26, Ms. Serré advised Mr. Dakik that she would be coming to his home at 18:00. At 17:38, Mr. Dakik received a call from Mr. Nader. Mr. Dakik advised him that he would be meeting with the lawyer (i.e. Diane Serré) in half an hour and would then have information for him. Ms. Serré was observed putting documents into her bag prior to leaving the office. At 19:07, when Ms. Serré was at the Dakik residence, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to say he had information. He proposed that they meet at Sea Sweets, another pastry shop owned by Mr. Nasser. During that meeting, Mr. Dakik was observed going over some documents with Mr. Nader. Mr. Nader advised Mr. Dakik that he had received documents from Halifax confirming that the charges against him had been withdrawn. He undertook to immediately retrieve them and bring them back to Sea Sweets. He did so, leaving the documents there for Mr. Dakik.

123 On August 27, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader from Sea Sweets because the staff were having trouble finding the documents Mr. Nader had left for Mr. Dakik. Finally, the documents were located and, in a call at 17:26 to Mr. Nader, Mr. Dakik said he would review them with the lawyer. At 18:19, Mr. Dakik called Viva Esthetics and spoke to Diane Serré. Mr. Dakik told her that "the case was withdrawn in Nova Scotia" (a clear reference to Mr. Nader's criminal charges), and he had the papers. That evening, according to surveillance reports, Mr. Dakik went to Viva Esthetics carrying a piece of paper in his hand. He gave the paper to Vivian Badaan-Dakik who in turn was observed giving it to Diane Serré. I find that these were the papers from the Halifax Crown Attorney's Office confirming that charges against Mr. Nader had been withdrawn.

124 On August 29, 2004, Mr. Nader called Mr. Dakik for a progress report. Mr. Dakik responded that he had given the papers to the lawyer and was waiting for the lawyer to get back to him. Later that day, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré to see what she thought about the document he had given her at Viva Esthetics. Ms. Serré said she would have to check and would probably call him the following day. At this time, Mr. Dakik had not yet advised Mr. Nader whether or not he could help and what it would cost if he did.

125 On August 31, 2004, Diane Serré did a search of CIC files relating to Daniel Antoine Macizi and then went to a Client History screen from the list returned. A bit later, she pulled up the Client History of Mr. Nader. After work, Ms. Serré went to the Dakik residence. While she was there, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader and advised him that the CIC believed that (1) Mr. Nader had lied on his application for permanent residency when he said that he had never been charged or convicted of a crime, and that normally leads to an automatic rejection of the application, and (2) Mr. Nader's marriage to Ms. Lavallée was a marriage of convenience because she was much older than him. Mr. Dakik asked Mr. Nader to obtain a doctor's letter saying that his wife was disabled or had psychological problems and therefore needed him to take care of her. Mr. Nader said that was not the case, and he would not be able to get such a letter. Mr. Dakik emphasized that Mr. Nader's case was difficult, and the lawyer was not sure anything could be done. On a couple of occasions during the conversation, Mr. Dakik consulted Ms. Serré. Mr. Dakik undertook to speak further with the lawyer and get back to Mr. Nader but, if an attempt was going to be made to help Mr. Nader get his permanent resident status, it would cost Mr. Nader at least $7,000. Prior to this telephone conversation, Mr. Nader had not known that Immigration officials thought he had lied on his permanent residence application.

126 During this conversation, after Mr. Dakik had clearly been speaking to Ms. Serré, he told Mr. Nader that there were 2750 files ahead of his, and those would take about three years to process. For his file to be put ahead of everyone else, there had to be a good reason so that people would not say it had been favouritism. Mr. Dakik said that the Ottawa CIC office had received Mr. Nader's application in February 2004. Currently, they were working on applications they had received two years previously.

127 On September 8, 2004, Mr. Nader called Mr. Dakik for an update, and Mr. Dakik responded that he was still waiting to hear from the lawyer regarding a possible solution. In a telephone conversation on September 9, 2004, Mr. Dakik told Ms. Serré that Mr. Nader was killing him with phone calls. Ms. Serré said that she had not figured anything out yet. Mr. Dakik wondered if the permanent residence application could be advanced if Mr. Nader submitted letters from himself, his wife, his lawyer, and his wife's doctor all speaking to his wife needing to have Mr. Nader with her for health reasons. Ms. Serré said she would try, but she suspected immigration officers would not assign much weight to that type of argument.

128 On September 10, 2004, Mr. Nader called Mr. Dakik to discuss further the letters he needed to get from his wife's doctor and lawyer. He was having difficulty getting any letter from his wife's doctor because his wife was upset at what Mr. Dakik had recommended the letter say about her. Mr. Dakik emphasized the importance of the doctor's letter. He said that either he would get Mr. Nader to take them to the Ottawa CIC office and ask for a particular person, or he would have Mr. Nader give him the letters and he would put them on his file. The obvious implication is that he would have Ms. Serré do that.

129 On September 13, 2004, Mr. Nader called Mr. Dakik to advise that, although he had letters written by his lawyer, his wife, and himself, he could not get a letter from his wife's doctor because his wife was not suffering from any illness - physical or psychological. Mr. Dakik emphasized that the medical letter was the most important document he needed to pursue Mr. Nader's permanent residence application based on humanitarian grounds, and he made numerous suggestions to Mr. Nader as to how he should sell the idea of a doctor's letter to his wife and to her doctor. Ultimately, he suggested that Mr. Nader see Dr. Mansour - someone to whom Mr. Dakik referred many people. Mr. Dakik went on to say that, without the doctor's letter, Mr. Nader's application would certainly be rejected; however, if Mr. Nader provided Mr. Dakik with the papers he needed, then Mr. Nader's application could be approved quickly, and in much less time than the normal two and a half year wait. Mr. Dakik explained that, when the supervisor instructed an immigration officer to put Mr. Nader's file to the top of the pile, there had to be a good reason to do that so that the immigration officer did not alert someone higher up than the supervisor that Mr. Nader's file was being given preferential treatment. If Immigration officials suspected that Mr. Nader was receiving special help from someone within Immigration, Mr. Nader's application would be rejected, the Immigration officials helping Mr. Dakik would get into trouble, and Mr. Dakik's work would be spoiled. Mr. Dakik again emphasized the number of applications ahead of his. Mr. Dakik undertook to instruct Mr. Nader on how to answer any questions put to him if he was subjected to an interview. Mr. Dakik estimated the cost of his services for Mr. Nader as being $10,000. Mr. Nader eventually paid this sum to Mr. Dakik in addition to the initial $300.

130 On September 15, 2004, Ms. Lavallée obtained a medical letter to the effect that she suffered from high blood pressure and her blood pressure would go up if her husband was removed from Canada. Mr. Nader called Mr. Dakik to advise that he now had all four letters. They met later that evening at Sea Sweets at which time Mr. Nader gave the four letters to Mr. Dakik. Meanwhile, after Mr. Nader's call, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré and arranged for her to come to his home the following evening after work.

131 On September 16, 2004, Diane Serré left her office at 20:37 and went directly to the Dakik residence where she met with Mr. Dakik. While she was there, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to inquire if he had printed something. Mr. Dakik stated that the lawyer was going away for a week, and it was only upon "his" return that the lawyer would be able to hand "it" to an officer. Mr. Dakik and Mr. Nader agreed to meet right away at Sea Sweets so that Mr. Nader could provide the document to Mr. Dakik. Mr. Dakik called home to see if Ms. Serré was still there, explaining to his wife that he just wanted to tell her that everything was OK and that they would get paid in the next couple of days. Ms. Serré had already left, so Mr. Dakik immediately called her at home and told her things were OK. Ms. Serré said she would look into it at Viva Esthetics the following day.

132 On September 17th, Daniel Nader called Mr. Dakik at noon in an effort to get some indication from Mr. Dakik as to how long it was going to take before he received permanent resident status. Clearly Mr. Nader was reluctant to pay further money to Mr. Dakik without some idea as to what Mr. Dakik could do for him. Mr. Dakik said that the lawyer had not yet seen the paper which Mr. Nader had given him the previous day. Although Mr. Dakik said a number of times that he did not want to speak about money over the phone, he did confirm that Mr. Nader had to pay him $5,000 before Mr. Dakik would do anything further on his file. He stated that, with all of his clients, he asks for half of the fees in advance and the balance on the day before the day when the file would be finished.

133 Shortly after this conversation, Diane Serré attended Viva Esthetics and met with Vivian Badaan-Dakik. I find that Ms. Badaan-Dakik gave Ms. Serré the document that Mr. Nader had given Mr. Dakik the night before. Later that afternoon, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to confirm that the lawyer now had the document.

134 On September 18, 2004, Mr. Nader met Mr. Dakik at Sea Sweets and gave him $5,000 in cash. He did not get a receipt. Mr. Dakik had undertaken the previous day during their telephone conversation to have Mr. Nader's file opened by the lawyer as soon as possible that week.

135 On September 20, 2004, Diane Serré accessed the FOSS Client History, Work in Process, and Remarks on Mr. Nader's file. After work, she went to the Dakik residence. While she was there, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to advise him that everything was fine but some issues had arisen in regard to the security report because Mr. Nader had both Venezuelan and Lebanese citizenship and went by different names. He asked Mr. Nader to give him to the end of the week to get matters sorted out. When Ms. Serré had entered the residence, she was carrying her purse. When she exited, she was carrying a white plastic bag in addition to her purse. She went immediately to a CIBC bank machine, where she was observed taking crisp new $20 bills out of her purse, depositing some, and putting the balance in her wallet. A credit of $340 appears on one of Ms. Serré's CIBC accounts on that date. I find that, when Ms. Serré was at the Dakik residence on September 20th, Mr. Dakik gave her a portion of the monies he had received from Mr. Nader on September 18th.

136 On September 21st, Ms. Serré went to the Dakik residence after work. Soon after she arrived, Mr. Dakik tried to reach Mr. Nader. Mr. Nader called back within minutes, at which time Mr. Dakik proudly advised him that he had arranged for a security clearance for him (something that Mr. Dakik had previously told Mr. Nader could take from six to eight months) and that Mr. Nader would be able to get his permanent residence approval that week. Mr. Nader was told to await a call from the Ottawa CIC office. He would be given an appointment, at which time he would take his passport and photographs to the office to receive his permanent residence documentation. He would not have to undergo an interview. Mr. Dakik boasted that he had done something truly out of the ordinary, and he expected Mr. Nader to pay him an additional $5,000 once the appointment was confirmed. At three points during this conversation, Mr. Dakik took breaks to obtain information from Diane Serré.

137 On September 22, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to advise that a man from the Ottawa CIC office would be calling him the next day. Diane Serré was with Mr. Dakik at the time and, at various points, he interrupted his conversation to get information from her. Mr. Dakik again told Mr. Nader to get the rest of the money ready.

138 On September 23, 2004, Rémi Larivière called Mr. Nader and arranged a meeting at 13:00 at the Ottawa CIC office. Later that morning, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to confirm that he had received the call, and Mr. Dakik told Mr. Nader that the name of the person who called was Rémi before Mr. Nader had told him the man's name. A few moments later, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to warn him not to tell the immigration officer that someone had worked on his file, as that would mean his application would be stopped.

139 On September 23, 2004, Mr. Nader met with Rémi Larivière at the Ottawa CIC office and gave him his updated Lebanese passport in the name "Nader". Mr. Larivière advised Mr. Nader that he would be receiving a letter confirming his permanent resident status the following week. Mr. Nader called Mr. Dakik shortly after this meeting to report how things had gone. During this conversation, Mr. Dakik pressured Mr. Nader to make the second payment of $5,000 as quickly as possible. He stated: "We want to look good in front of the lawyer, he was nice to us and made some efforts ... I take from you and hand it over to him quickly". Later that day, shortly after Ms. Serré had left the Dakik residence, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to confirm that his case had been approved, and he would be receiving his permanent residence documents shortly.

140 On September 24, 2004, Ms. Serré called Mr. Dakik and, using the code word "Vivian", advised him that Mr. Nader's appointment to pick up his permanent residence documents would be on October 7, 2004 in the morning. Mr. Dakik immediately called Mr. Nader to pass on this information, referring to Ms. Serré as "the lawyer".

141 On September 27, 2004, Mr. Nader called Mr. Dakik to say that he had received a letter from Immigration, but it was not at all as Mr. Dakik had explained. Instead, the letter said he had received only initial approval, and other things would have to happen, including a medical examination and security checks, before final approval for permanent residence would be obtained. Mr. Dakik said the letter had been sent in error, and he undertook to clarify matters. As soon as he finished speaking with Mr. Nader, Mr. Dakik called Diane Serré and, using the code word "mechanic", explained about the letter Mr. Nader had received. Ms. Serré said not to worry, Mr. Nader would receive confirmation of the October 7th appointment shortly. Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader back right away to provide this assurance. During this conversation, he confided that he did not like to speak over the phone and had been forced to use riddles when speaking with the lawyer.

142 On September 28, 2004, Mr. Nader received the letter from CIC advising of his appointment at 10:15 on October 7th. When Mr. Nader called Mr. Dakik that day to tell him about the letter, Mr. Dakik already knew that the appointment was in the morning on October 7th because he had just had a conversation to this effect with Ms. Serré. Mr. Nader met Mr. Dakik that night at Sea Sweets to give him the final instalment of $5,000.

143 On September 29, 2004, Ms. Serré went to the Dakik residence after work. In a telephone conversation between Issam Dakik and Vivian Badaan-Dakik at 18:28, when Ms. Badaan-Dakik was asking why Mr. Dakik had left Ms. Serré at the house, he responded: "well she got paid". The couple then proceeded to discuss in code what in fact had been paid.

144 Late in the evening of October 1, 2004, when he was with Diane Serré at a shopping mall, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to advise him that there was going to be a strike at Immigration commencing on October 7th, and he might not be able to pick up his permanent residence documents that day. Mr. Dakik said that he was sitting with the lawyer at that time, and they were trying to sort out a way that Mr. Nader could pick up his permanent resident card prior to October 7th. Earlier during the telephone conversations between Vivian Badaan-Dakik and Diane Serré to arrange the meeting of Ms. Serré and Mr. Dakik at the shopping mall, Ms. Badaan-Dakik implied that she would be meeting Ms. Serré. Later she told Ms. Serré that she had done that because she had been concerned that Ms. Serré's partner might be listening. Ms. Serré agreed that it was better that her partner, Roger, not be aware of the meeting with Mr. Dakik - again signalling an understanding that what she and Mr. Dakik were doing was not lawful.

145 On Sunday, October 3, 2004, when Ms. Serré was at the Dakik residence, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Nader to tell him to go to the Ottawa CIC office on Monday at 10:00 or later. He was to say that he could not come for his appointment on Thursday because his wife had to go to the hospital that day, but he had been told all of the papers were ready on his file. If the security guard did not get someone to help Mr. Nader, then Mr. Nader was to ask to speak to the supervisor or the manager. Mr. Dakik referred to the manager as being "one of us". Mr. Nader was not to mention the impeding strike because that was secret information which he should not know. Ms. Serré's voice can be heard in the background coaching Mr. Dakik.

146 On October 4, 2004, Mr. Nader went to the Ottawa CIC office and obtained his permanent resident documents. His permanent resident card arrived three weeks later, as promised.

147 Mr. Nader's evidence was that Mr. Dakik had told him that he had a connection in Immigration - that he knew a lady who was the manager in Immigration. Mr. Nader understood that he was paying Mr. Dakik money in order to speed up the processing of his immigration file.

148 Throughout his interactions with Mr. Nader, Mr. Dakik referred to Ms. Serré as "the lawyer".

149 It is unclear from all of the evidence whether Ms. Serré first spoke to Chantal Pilon or Rémi Larivière about the Nader file, and what instructions she gave at the time. Suffice it to say that, as of 7:07 on the morning of September 21, 2004, Chantal Pilon did a Client History on the file, which she repeated on September 22nd. Later on September 22nd, another immigration officer who worked on stage two approvals, Eric Bélanger, accessed the file and updated documents. Certainly on or before September 23rd, Ms. Serré had assigned Mr. Nader's file to Mr. Larivière to handle stage one approval. Over the course of the day on September 23rd, Rémi Larivière spent considerable time accessing numerous documents relating to Daniel Nader under two client numbers on the FOSS system. By 13:42 on that date, Mr. Larivière had satisfied himself that Mr. Nader's marriage to Ms. Lavallée was bona fide, and he provided first stage approval for permanent resident status. On September 24th, both Chantal Pilon and Eric Bélanger in the Land Unit worked on the file, and more particularly on documents relating to landing. On September 29th, Rémi Larivière did a final Client History for Mr. Nader.

150 All three of the current or former CIC officers qualified as experts were of the opinion that further investigation was required as to Daniel Nader's identity before he was granted permanent residency. At different times, he had been known by three different names: Macizi, Akkari, and Nader. His place of birth was shown differently on two documents. At some point, he had had both a Lebanese and a Venezuelan passport. The Canadian visa officers in both Lebanon and Venezuela should have been consulted for their input on the validity of the documents in Mr. Nader's possession issued in those countries. As well, Mr. Nader and his wife should have been interviewed to assess the validity of their marriage, given the twenty-year age difference and the speed at which they started to cohabit upon Mr. Nader's arrival in Canada. Finally, Mr. Nader should have been questioned about the circumstances surrounding the charges laid against him in Halifax.

151 I find that Diane Serré assigned the Nader file out of order so as to expedite the file. Consequently, Mr. Nader received his permanent resident status earlier than would have been the case had normal procedures been followed. As well, his application received a favourable assessment partially as a result of Ms. Serré's influence on the file - first brainstorming with Mr. Dakik as to what documents Mr. Nader should get from various individuals to improve his chances of success, then placing those documents on Mr. Nader's file, and finally instructing Ms. Pilon that it was acceptable to have Mr. Nader's permanent resident card issued in the name of Nader (and not Macizi or Akkari), without further inquiries being made. All of this amounted to preferential treatment and a breach of trust. Sharing confidential information, documentation, and advice about the Nader file with Mr. Dakik was also a breach of trust. I find that the only reason Ms. Serré provided special benefits to Mr. Nader was to further her own financial gain.

152 All of the essential elements of counts seven to nine have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ibtissam El Zein (Counts 10, 11, 12)

153 Ibtissam El Zein originally came to Canada in 1999 with her husband and three children (Wael, Elissar, and Ali). Her husband passed away five months after their arrival. Their initial application for refugee status was denied in 2001. This was followed by numerous appeals and applications, one being an application for a pre-removal risk assessment. It was determined that the family would not be at risk if they returned to Lebanon. In 2001, Ms. El Zein also applied for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. That application had not been decided by 2004. Nevertheless, in 2004, as a result of the failed refugee claim, a removal order was made. Throughout all of the applications and court appearances, Ms. El Zein was represented by her lawyer, Silvia Maciunas, and there was an authorization on her immigration file allowing CIC to deal directly with Ms. Maciunas.

154 In 2003, Rajaa undertook on Ms. El Zein's behalf to contact Issam Dakik and give him Ms. El Zein's telephone number. Ms. El Zein never heard from Mr. Dakik. In 2004, Sharifa Almoredey, a friend of Ms. El Zein, told her about Mr. Dakik's ability to help with immigration matters and provided her with his telephone number. On November 25, 2004, Ms. El Zein called Mr. Dakik and explained her situation to him. In return for a fee of $300, Mr. Dakik undertook to have her file pulled, to discuss it with "the lawyer" (i.e. Diane Serré), and to get copies - which I interpret as being the FOSS documents relating to the El Zein file. Ms. El Zein could not remember ever signing an authorization allowing Mr. Dakik to deal directly with CIC on her behalf. Ms. Serré went to the Dakik residence that evening, at which time Mr. Dakik provided her with Ms. El Zein's name and CIC file number.

155 During the search of Ms. Serré's office on December 16, 2004, a FOSS printout from Ibtissam El-Zein's file, dated November 26, 2004 at 10:56, was located in a recycling bin under Ms. Serré's desk. As well, a handwritten note with Ms. El-Zein's name, date of birth, and file number was found on Ms. Serré's desk. The off-line computer search also showed that Ms. Serré had accessed the Client History of Ibtissam El Zein on three occasions on November 26th and in total had spent about 45 minutes looking at various screens relating to Work in Process, Remarks, Medical Status, and various documents. At the same time, she also accessed the FOSS records for Wael El Zein, Ms. El Zein's eldest son, who had submitted an independent permanent residence application.

156 On November 26, 2004, Diane Serré went to the Dakik residence after work. After she had been there, Mr. Dakik called Ms. El Zein and arranged to see her that night, saying that he had all the information regarding her file. Later that evening, Mr. Dakik went to Ms. El Zein's home. She paid him $300 in cash and did not receive a receipt. Mr. Dakik reported that he had seen her file, there was a removal order, and her application for permanent residence based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was outstanding. He could not say what would happen next, but efforts were going to be taken to get the removal order lifted. Despite Ms. El Zein's evidence that she could not remember if Mr. Dakik asked her for further money, I find that, on this occasion, Mr. Dakik did quote a price to Ms. El Zein for his assistance in getting her permanent resident status, and I find that Ms. El Zein spent the next week trying to gather the funds. This is evident from subsequent telephone conversations between Ms. El Zein and Mr. Dakik.

157 On November 29, 2004, Diane Serré, as acting operations supervisor at the Ottawa CIC office, assigned the El Zein file to Rémi Larivière for step one approval. She told him that the matter was urgent, that agents from the Enforcement Division had spoken to Ms. Serré to tell her about the file, that steps were being taken to deport the El Zeins, that there was an outstanding application based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, and that she wanted a decision taken on that application prior to the family being deported to avoid administrative glitches or problems. Ms. Serré advised Mr. Larivière that she had reviewed the file briefly, and she knew what her decision would be. This signalled to Mr. Larivière that Ms. Serré would approve the application; however, he realized that the final decision was his.

158 Diane Serré's behaviour in this instance is a clear example of her stepping over the line in order to assist Ms. El Zein for Ms. Serré's own financial gain. First, she assigned the El Zein files out of turn. Second, she lied in saying that agents from the Enforcement Division had spoken to her. Third, she tried to influence Mr. Larivière's exercise of his discretion by telling him what she would do if she were considering the file.

159 There was much activity on the El Zeins' files on November 29th. Shiranie Perera, Chantal Pilon, Eric Bélanger, David Zuniga, Sylvie Lagacé, and Diane Serré all accessed the FOSS records relating to various members of the El Zein family, and some of these officers spent considerable time with various documents.

160 During a telephone conversation between Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré over the afternoon, Ms. Serré said she could not speak long on her cell phone because she did not get free time on it during the day. Mr. Dakik responded that he paid her for that, to which Ms. Serré responded "yeah".

161 At 16:55 on November 29th, Mr. Dakik called Wael El Zein, telling him that he could arrange everything for him as well as his mother. He then explained to Ibtissam El Zein what would happen on her file. He said that he would arrange for her to get stage one approval of her permanent residence application. At first he said that a letter to this effect would be sent by mail. Then, after consulting with Diane Serré, who was with him at the time, he said that someone from the Ottawa CIC office would call her, and she could go to their offices and pick up the letter. Once stage one approval had been granted, the Enforcement Division at Immigration would be told not to enforce the removal order.

162 During the day on December 1, 2004, Wael El Zein called Mr. Dakik and asked him to come to the house that evening. I find that the purpose of this visit was for the El Zeins to provide Mr. Dakik with the first instalment of monies that he had demanded in payment for his services. After that meeting, Mr. Dakik left messages for Diane Serré, telling her, in code, to call the El Zeins the following day. He was so concerned that this message get through to her that, at 20:55, he called his wife and asked her to call Ms. Serré to say that "we are OK" and that they had everything. I interpret this as being a coded message to Ms. Serré that Mr. Dakik had been paid.

163 On the morning of December 2, 2004, Diane Serré called Mr. Dakik to advise that her grandmother had died the previous night and she was not going to work. Clearly she was upset. Despite this, Mr. Dakik put pressure on Ms. Serré to call the El Zeins from home, and he provided Ms. Serré with their telephone number. In doing so, he emphasized that "it's a business". Mr. Dakik then called the El Zeins and advised Wael that Immigration would be calling within the hour. Half an hour later, Ms. Serré called the El Zein telephone number that Mr. Dakik had provided, identified herself as calling from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration (without providing her name), and explained to Wael what was happening in regard to his permanent residence application and that of his mother. She said that she had received representations from their lawyer and that they should be hearing from Immigration early the following week. It might be that an interview would be required before their applications could be finalized. Wael immediately called Mr. Dakik to report on this development. Ms. El Zein could not recall another occasion when anyone had telephoned her from Immigration; usually, they sent her letters.

164 Meanwhile, Rémi Larivière had spent three or four days reviewing four volumes of materials relating to the El Zein files. Ultimately, he decided that there were sufficient grounds to approve the permanent residence applications on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. He advised Ms. Serré of his decision. She asked him to call the family with the good news, to prepare work and study permits for them, and to have them come into the office to get confirmation of their status, to apply for the permits, and to pay the appropriate fees. Normally, applicants were notified of approvals by mail. This was the only occasion on which Ms. Serré had ever asked Mr. Larivière to telephone applicants and to have them come into the office to collect documentation. As well, normally those seeking work or study permits would apply for them through Vegreville. These are further examples of the preferential treatment Ms. Serré was affording the El Zein family.

165 On December 7, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Ms. El Zein to say that she could expect a phone call from an immigration officer the following day to ask her to attend at the Ottawa CIC office to pick up a letter stating that the removal order had been stopped and she had been granted stage one approval for permanent status. Ms. El Zein and her two children would then need to be fingerprinted and get a security clearance before the second stage approval would be granted. Mr. Dakik implied that Ms. El Zein had already paid him for the first stage approval, and once she had received that approval, she would have to pay an additional instalment which, he hoped, would not be greater than the first. Ms. El Zein denied that she ever paid Mr. Dakik anything in addition to the initial $300 or that he had even quoted her an additional amount. I do not accept this evidence. I find that Mr. Dakik did ask for a significant payment prior to her receiving the letter confirming their permanent resident status and revoking the removal order, and he advised her that a further payment of approximately the same amount could be anticipated once she was about to receive the permanent resident cards. During the conversation, Mr. Dakik stated as a general proposition: "The first time when we're working, we get the first half and when everything is completed, then the second half gets paid".

166 Of note, during Mr. Dakik's December 7, 2004 telephone conversation with Ms. El Zein, he indicated that the telephone call from the Ottawa CIC office would be made by an officer whose name had four letters, like his daughter's (i.e. Rémi). On December 8, 2004, Rémi Larivière called the El Zein home to arrange an appointment the following day. In a telephone conversation between Ms. El Zein and Mr. Dakik shortly thereafter, Mr. Dakik told Ms. El Zein that the name of the person who called her was Rémi. Obviously, Mr. Dakik had received this information was Ms. Serré. In a subsequent conversation, Mr. Dakik warned Ms. El Zein not to say anything to the immigration officer - just do what he asked.

167 On December 9, 2004, Ms. El Zein, Wael, and Ellisar attended at the Ottawa CIC office. Ms. El Zein met with Rémi Larivière who provided her with a document confirming that they had received stage one status as permanent residents and would be receiving a letter the following week providing details as to the medical examinations and fingerprinting that had to be done to get stage two approval. None of the three El Zein family members was interviewed by Mr. Larivière or anyone else - just as Mr. Dakik had previously promised. In a conversation with Ms. El Zein following this meeting, Mr. Dakik made it clear that he had already known what was going to transpire at the December 9th meeting. He also asked for a further payment for the services he had provided, and Ms. El Zein said she hoped she would have the money by the following week.

168 When testifying, Issam Dakik agreed that he had been guilty of the offences relating to the El Zein files to which he pled guilty at his trial.

169 All of the essential elements of counts 10 to 12 have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

George Zidan (Counts 13, 14)

170 George Zidan came to Canada in 2000 with his mother and father, a sister and brother, and his twin brother, Elias. George and Elias Zidan were 17 at the time; the other children were younger. Their father, Raif Zidan, had been issued a work permit in regard to a job that awaited him in Calgary. The rest of the family came to Canada as visitors. The family never went to Calgary; instead, they settled in Ottawa, where Raif Zidan was able to obtain alternate employment and the Zidan children attended school. Raif Zidan was successful in getting his work permit, and the status of his dependents, extended to December 2002. Meanwhile, in January 2002, the family applied for permanent residency at the Canadian Immigration office in Buffalo.

171 In November 2002, while waiting for the results of his permanent residence application, Raif Zidan retained a lawyer to apply for an extension of his work permit and his wife's visitor status and to get study permits for all of his children. By letter dated April 29, 2003, Samia Caron rejected his application on the grounds that he had not submitted the required confirmation of employment from HRDC and proof of identification (such as passports or drivers licences). She counselled Mr. Zidan to apply to Vegreville within 90 days for a restoration of status at a fee of $200 per person. If he chose not to do that, he and his family would have to leave the country.

172 Samia Caron had started an on-the-job training program as an immigration officer at the Ottawa CIC office in June 2002 and therefore was relatively inexperienced when she rejected Raif Zidan's application in April 2003. Nevertheless, she was confident that her decision was consistent with her training and with the provisions in IRPA and the Regulations. It was within Ms. Caron's discretion as an immigration officer to decide whether to allow the Zidans to reapply with all required documentation attached to their application or instead to require them to apply for restoration through Vegreville. She chose the latter option.

173 A few weeks after Raif Zidan received this letter, he contacted Issam Dakik - someone to whom he had been referred by friends. Mr. Dakik came to the Zidan home and met with Mr. and Mrs. Zidan, George, and Elias. At that time, Mr. Dakik asked for Raif Zidan's full name, date of birth, and CIC file number. A few days later, Mr. Dakik returned to the Zidan home and advised Mr. and Mrs. Zidan and George that he could get work permits for Mr. and Mrs. Zidan, George, and Elias, and study permits for the younger children. Mr. Dakik asked for payment of $4,500 but did not provide a breakdown of where that money would go. During this meeting, an application form was completed for Mr. and Mrs. Zidan and the younger children and separate forms were completed for each of George and Elias who, by this time, were over the age of majority. The family paid Mr. Dakik $1,500 in cash. They did not receive a receipt.

174 During their meetings, Mr. Dakik referred to a lawyer with whom he worked, but he did not explain the role the lawyer would play. I find that, in referring to "the lawyer", Mr. Dakik was referring to Diane Serré. I find that he had Ms. Serré access the Zidan file at CIC. Ms. Serré saw that Ms. Caron had denied the Zidans' applications, and she took steps to reverse this decision.

175 On July 18, 2003, when Diane Serré and Samia Caron (who was on vacation at the time) were both in attendance at a social event outside the office, Ms. Serré advised Ms. Caron that she had made a mistake on the Zidan file and should have approved the application. Ms. Serré, who was the acting operations supervisor at the time, said they could discuss the matter further the following week. In follow-up discussions, Ms. Serré told Ms. Caron that she had to provide procedural fairness to all clients and that Ms. Caron should have given the Zidans the opportunity of supplying the missing documents. At the end of their conversations, it was left that Ms. Caron would revisit her decision and would give the Zidans the opportunity to provide the missing documents. Ms. Caron did not really agree with this course of action. She felt that she had made the right decision initially and had exercised her discretion appropriately in doing so. Nevertheless, she felt that she had no choice but to follow Ms. Serré's instructions. Ms. Serré specifically instructed her to issue work permits, instead of study permits, for George and Elias. Ms. Caron did not check to see whether they were entitled to receive work permits at that time - she simply followed Ms. Serré's directions in this regard.

176 In a further conversation between Ms. Serré and Ms. Caron, when Ms. Caron advised that she was intending to charge the Zidan family further fees to process their new applications, Ms. Serré advised Ms. Caron not to charge any additional fees to the Zidans since the earlier refusal had been a departmental error. Again, Ms. Caron did not agree with this course of action, but she felt she had no choice but to follow Ms. Serré's direction. Ms. Caron personally processed the Zidans' renewed application; namely, the one that the Zidans had completed with the assistance of Mr. Dakik. She also arranged for the Zidans to receive a reimbursement of fees in the amount of $1,850. At trial, Ms. Caron was unable to remember how this sum had been calculated.

177 At some point, Samia Caron called the Zidans and advised that their documents were ready. Mr. Zidan, George and Elias went to the Ottawa CIC office with the family passports and met with Ms. Caron. After reviewing their passports, she gave work permits to Mr. Zidan, his wife, George and Elias, and study permits for the younger two children. The Zidans were not required to undergo an interview or complete any other paperwork. The work permits for George and Elias went from July 23, 2003 to October 8, 2003 - the date their passports expired. Subsequently, through attendance at the Ottawa CIC office with their renewed passports, they were able to have the work permits extended to July 14, 2004.

178 After the requested permits had been issued to the Zidans, Mr. Dakik went to their house for a third visit so that they could pay him a further $3,000 in cash for his services. He did not provide a receipt. At that time, Mr. Dakik referred the Zidans to Rajaa for assistance in completing their application for permanent residency, as he was leaving for Lebanon for four to five weeks. He advised that, upon his return, he would finish the process.

179 At some point, Mr. Dakik advised the Zidan family that it was he who had got them the refund of $1,850, and it was in regard to the application fee they had previously paid through the lawyer who had been helping them prior to Mr. Dakik's involvement. At Mr. Dakik's request, the family paid him $400 of that refund.

180 About four to five weeks after the Zidans had made their final payment to Mr. Dakik, Rajaa assisted the Zidans in completing their permanent residence applications based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds and submitting them to Vegreville. The family heard nothing further from Rajaa and, in approximately March 2004, turned to Mr. Dakik for help in finishing their applications. Mr. Dakik advised that he could not do anything further to help them with that application.

181 In the summer of 2004, George Zidan met with Elda Paliga, an immigration consultant to whom the family had been referred by a friend, for assistance in extending the temporary status of the various family members and finalizing their permanent resident status. George Zidan explained to Ms. Paliga what had transpired on the family's immigration file to date. Ms. Paliga was shocked that both George and Elias had been given open work permits in the summer of 2003 as it was her understanding that they had not been eligible to obtain them at that time. Until they received their work permits, George and Elias had only done approximately six months of ESL training in Ottawa. They had never attended a post-secondary institution that may have opened the door to their getting a work permit. They had not qualified under any other provision in effect in the summer of 2003. Ms. Paliga undertook to rectify the situation.

182 On June 18, 2004, Ms. Paliga, who had previously worked for CIC for almost 25 years, delivered by hand to the manager at the Ottawa CIC office a letter setting out the Zidans' history regarding their immigration status, their applications, and their permits. She explained that George and Elias had been given work permits from the Ottawa CIC office in error and now were seeking an extension of temporary residence to correspond with the extension of a work permit for Raif Zidan, as they did not want to perpetuate the mistake. Ms. Paliga's letter and attached documents were comprehensive and entirely professional. A few days later, in a telephone conversation with Peter Haarsma, the manager, Ms. Paliga expressed the view that the granting of the work permits to George and Elias could not have been done in error in that, in her experience, any immigration officer would have realized that these individuals did not qualify for such permits. She suggested to Mr. Haarsma that he had a problem on his hands, and he should look into it.

183 Unbeknownst to Ms. Paliga, Ms. Serré, and Mr. Dakik, a lengthy RCMP investigation had been underway for over a year in regard to corruption at the Ottawa CIC office and, on July 7, 2004, the RCMP had obtained judicial authorization from McKinnon J. for wiretaps on telephones and cell phones used by Ms. Serré and Mr. Dakik.

184 On July 21, 2004, Mr. Dakik left a message on George Zidan's cell asking him to call. When George Zidan called Mr. Dakik the following day from Ms. Paliga's office, Mr. Dakik angrily told him that an immigration consultant, Ms. Paliga, who used to work at Immigration, had sent a letter to Immigration about negligence and briberies relating to the Zidan file. The letter had been seen by the manager and the supervisor at the Ottawa CIC office and had created problems for the immigration officer who had helped the Zidans. An investigation was underway, and the immigration officer would lose her job. Mr. Dakik said that he had just returned from a month's holidays and had learned about the letter from the lawyer who helped Mr. Dakik on the Zidan file (i.e. Diane Serré). The lawyer was also on holidays so had not yet seen the letter. Mr. Dakik wanted George Zidan to find out what Ms. Paliga had said. Mr. Dakik thought he likely would have access to the letter once the lawyer went back to work. The whole tenor of Mr. Dakik's utterances during this telephone call was that he, with the help of the lawyer, had done a favour for the Zidan family in getting them their immigration documents. Now, due to the letter of Ms. Paliga, Immigration was putting the Zidan file and all those involved with it under the spotlight. This would hurt the Zidans, and it would also hurt the immigration officer who helped them. During his outburst, Mr. Dakik said: "But you do know the kind of power that ... the lawyer has and I have. Due to this power we were able to do it for you. You do know this." On the advice of Ms. Paliga, George Zidan professed not to know anything about the letter or the alleged irregularities.

185 On the evening of July 22, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré to report on his conversation with George Zidan.

186 On Saturday, July 24, 2004, Mr. Dakik again called George Zidan to inquire if he had news about the consultant. Mr. Zidan stuck to his story that he did not know the name of the consultant, that it was his uncle who dealt with the consultant, and that the consultant had not gotten back to his uncle. Mr. Dakik reiterated how he would not get to see the letter that the consultant had sent until the following week, and he really wanted to know what was in it before Monday so that those at Immigration who were being interrogated would know how to respond. His understanding at the time was that the consultant had criticized the sluggishness at Immigration and had alleged that immigrants had to bribe people there in order to get them to work on their files. Mr. Dakik asked Mr. Zidan if he had ever mentioned in front of his consultant that there was a lawyer who received a payment for helping on his file. Mr. Dakik went on to boast that, when he had helped the Zidan family, he had "made stuff ... that wouldn't be done for anyone else". George Zidan never contacted Mr. Dakik again after this conversation.

187 On November 16, 2004, the Ottawa CIC office issued work permits valid to July 2005 for Mr. and Mrs. Zidan, and confirmed temporary residence status for George, Elias, and the two younger children. Ultimately, George and Elias Zidan received stage one approval for permanent resident status only in December 2008. At the same time, they received work permits.

188 While testifying, George Zidan said that Mr. Dakik had never advised him or other family members in his presence whether he was paying the lawyer for the assistance being provided on their file. When testifying, Mr. Dakik denied that Ms. Serré had received money for assisting with the Zidan case. For the reasons already provided earlier, I reject that evidence and find that Ms. Serré had, in fact, knowingly received money for the assistance she provided on the Zidan file.

189 It is clear from Mr. Dakik's statements during his conversations with George Zidan and Diane Serré that he knew that the Zidan file had been handled in an unusual way that would not stand up to scrutiny, and he was concerned that suspicions regarding Ms. Serré's involvement might arise within the Ottawa CIC office.

190 Ms. Fox, Mr. Hogan, and Mr. Legault, the three experts, were all of the opinion that Ms. Caron had initially made the right decision when she rejected Mr. Zidan's application because the HRDC validation and identity documents were missing. No concerns about procedural fairness were raised by Ms. Caron's initial rejection of Mr. Zidan's application. All agreed that, once Mr. Zidan's application had been rejected for valid reasons, his only option was to reapply to Vegreville for restoration of his status. There were no extenuating circumstances that would have made it appropriate for Mr. Zidan's application to be reconsidered at the local level. Mr. Legault went through all of the relevant legislative and regulatory provisions to explain why, when they were granted an open work permit in 2003, George and Elias Zidan had not been entitled to one. Finally, both Mr. Hogan and Mr. Legault agreed that there was no reason for the Ottawa CIC office to have reimbursed the Zidan family any funds.

191 I find that Ms. Serré committed a breach of trust in numerous ways in regard to the Zidan file. She provided confidential information and advice to Mr. Dakik to pass on to the Zidans. She used her influence and position as an acting operations supervisor to get Samia Caron, an immigration officer in training, to change a decision that she had quite appropriately made in the exercise of her discretion. She had work permits issued for the Zidan brothers when they were not entitled to them under the relevant legislation and regulations. And she had a refund given to the Zidans when they were not entitled to one. I find that she knowingly took all of these steps in order to benefit herself financially.

192 All of the essential elements of counts 13 and 14 have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Kairouz Boulos El Khouri (Counts 15, 16, 28)

193 John Khoury came to Canada from Lebanon in 1976 and became a Canadian citizen in 1979. In the early 1990s, Mr. Khoury's brother (Kairouz Boulos El Khouri), sister-in-law, and nephew had applied from Lebanon for permanent resident status and had come to Canada for a brief visit. They had not been in Canada since. In approximately 2000, Mr. Khoury was concerned that, due to the political turmoil in Lebanon, his brother and his family might have to leave Lebanon. If that came about, they would need another country to accept them. For that reason, Mr. Khoury took steps to reactivate the family's Canadian permanent residence applications.

194 On the recommendation of Imad Dalank, Mr. Khoury consulted Rajaa to work on the family's applications. Rajaa charged Mr. Khoury $50 for each person's application plus an overall fee of $1,500. In the fall of 2004, Rajaa advised Mr. Khoury that the permanent resident cards were ready, and his brother would have to attend in Canada to pick them up from the Ottawa CIC office. That was not something that Mr. Khoury's brother wanted to do.

195 Again, on the recommendation of Mr. Dalank, Mr. Khoury sought the assistance of Issam Dakik. They had a lengthy telephone conversation on November 27, 2004, during which time I find that Diane Serré was at Mr. Dakik's residence and was advising him as he and Mr. Khoury discussed various options for getting the permanent resident cards into the hands of Kairouz El Khouri. The circumstances presented a problem. Mr. El Khouri was in Lebanon and had not been in Canada since the early 1990s. He had no status to get back into Canada. If he went to the Canadian Embassy in Lebanon and sought a visitor's visa, the computer would show that he had earlier applied for permanent resident status, and his permanent residence application would be cancelled. If he came to Canada via the United States, where he could travel on a visa, the border officials would question his right to enter the country and, if he applied for a visitor's visa, the same issue would arise. The two men discussed the option of Mr. Khoury presenting himself at the Ottawa CIC office, pretending to be his brother; however, this would not result in permanent resident cards being issued for Mr. El Khouri's wife and son. Another option was for Mr. Khoury to drive to the United States, pick up his brother, and claim upon their entry into Canada that Mr. El Khouri had left Canada with Mr. Khoury and was a resident of Canada waiting for his permanent resident card to be issued. All options carried risks, and none was chosen by the end of the conversation. Instead, Mr. Khoury agreed to get the documents Rajaa claimed to have received from CIC and to show them to Mr. Dakik. In the meantime, Mr. Dakik was going to ensure that the permanent resident cards supposedly awaiting Mr. El Khouri and his family at the Ottawa CIC office would not be returned to Nova Scotia due to the clients' delay in picking them up.

196 During this conversation, there was much talk about how much Mr. Dakik's services could cost. He acknowledged that he was running a business and did not do this immigration work for free. He quoted $10,000 as the likely fees, but warned the fees could be higher. Throughout the conversation, he referred to the lawyer with whom he worked on the immigration files and stated that the lawyer was with him at the time. In Arabic, the gender he assigned to the lawyer was masculine; however, I have no doubt that Mr. Dakik was referring to Ms. Serré.

197 During this conversation, Mr. Dakik also emphasized that, whatever they decided to do, he would want to play it safe and not expose anyone to risk. Everything would be pre-determined or arranged in advance.

198 By November 29, 2004, Mr. Khoury had obtained the documents that Rajaa had in her possession, and he met Mr. Dakik at Tim Horton's in order to provide him with a copy. Shortly after his meeting with Mr. Khoury ended and Mr. Dakik had returned home, he called Diane Serré to see if she could come to his home after work. I find that she did so, at which time she reviewed the documents that had been provided to Mr. Dakik by Mr. Khoury. These documents consisted of Call-in Notices from CIC for the El Khouris and a letter from the Ottawa CIC office advising that the El Khouris' permanent resident cards were ready to be picked up. Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré agreed that the following day she would bring over other documents from the file. Mr. Dakik said he would call Mr. Khoury and tell him that the permanent resident cards had been put away.

199 On December 1, 2004, Ms. Serré accessed the El Khouris' files on FOSS, looking at the Client History, including the Work in Process, Remarks, and Personal Detail Screen. Ms. Serré called Mr. Khoury's number, but there was no answer. Before she left work, she was observed placing a business letter-sized envelope into her bag. After work, according to surveillance reports, Ms. Serré attended the Dakik residence. I find that Ms. Serré took to the Dakik residence copies of FOSS documents from the El Khouri file, including a Client History printed at 10:08 and a Relating Secondaries document printed at 10:09. While she was there, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Khoury and told him that someone from Immigration had called him that day, but no one had answered. He said that he had all of the information about the case and everything was under control. They agreed to meet that evening at Tim Horton's at 18:30.

200 On December 1, 2004, surveillance records show that Mr. Dakik met with a man fitting Mr. Khoury's description at Tim Horton's at 18:55. Mr. Dakik was observed showing Mr. Khoury a document. I find that Mr. Dakik was showing Mr. Khoury the forms relating to the El Khouris' immigration file that he had obtained from Ms. Serré. After leaving Tim Horton's, Mr. Khoury and Mr. Dakik drove their respective vehicles to a TD Bank where, I find, Mr. Khoury paid Mr. Dakik $300 for having pulled up the files at CIC and verifying that the information on the forms provided by Rajaa was legitimate. Mr. Dakik did not provide Mr. Khoury with a receipt.

201 On December 2, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré at home to pressure her to call Ibtissam El Zein but, during the course of the discussion, Ms. Serré confirmed that she had the number of John Khoury and thought it might be him whom Mr. Dakik wanted her to call. Mr. Dakik confirmed that it was both clients. Most telling, when applying pressure to Ms. Serré to make the call, he said "Because I promised him you know. It's a business." This is just one of many instances during the taped conversations between Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré where it was clear that Ms. Serré understood Mr. Dakik was making money from serving immigration clients.

202 On December 3rd, Ms. Serré called Mr. Khoury's number and asked for Kairouz Boulos El Khouri. Mr. Khoury advised that he was not there at the moment. Ms. Serré said she would call back. Approximately an hour later, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Khoury. When Mr. Khoury told him about the call from CIC, Mr. Dakik responded "OK ... these are the people ... don't worry. These are our people, they've been asked ... from the inside, just to open the file ...". Mr. Dakik undertook to call Mr. Khoury back in about an hour to tell him exactly what was going on. Mr. Dakik called Diane Serré. She told Mr. Dakik to tell Mr. Khoury to pretend he was Kairouz El Khouri when she called back. Mr. Dakik called Mr. Khoury back within the hour with the following instructions. The same female who had called him from CIC would be calling him back on Monday [the next business day] and would again ask for Kairouz Boulos El-Khouri. Mr. Khoury was supposed to say "speaking". The CIC officer would say that his appointment had been changed. According to Mr. Dakik, this was what the lawyer (i.e. Diane Serré) had instructed him to tell Mr. Khoury. Mr. Dakik reassured Mr. Khoury that everything was under control.

203 Three additional items are of interest in the telephone conversation between Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré. First, Mr. Dakik confirmed that the following week they would have "the other one" done and the "two appointments", to which Ms. Serré agreed. At this time, Mr. Dakik was working on the Chahine, Almoredey, and El Zein matters in addition to the El Khouri matter. He went on to say that he was under control in regard to one of the matters but "the other side would be within two or three weeks". I find that this exchange related to Mr. Dakik having received a payment or anticipating receiving a payment from one of the clients and having to wait for payment from another. Second, Mr. Dakik indicated that he had asked Vivian Badaan-Dakik to give Ms. Serré "that thing", which I find was money or some other form of gift or payment in regard to the immigration work. Third, Mr. Dakik indicated that he "might have something Sunday" which fit with his just having spoken to Fares Hamze and having agreed to meet him on Sunday.

204 On Monday, December 6, 2004, Ms. Serré called Mr. Khoury's number, but there was no answer. On December 7th, when surveillance reports place Ms. Serré at the Dakik residence, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Khoury telling him that Immigration had tried his number again and no one had answered. During this conversation, Mr. Dakik and Mr. Khoury discussed other options to get Mr. Kairouz El Khouri into the country in a way that would enable him to pick up his permanent resident card. Mr. Dakik emphasized that he could not get into details over the telephone - the implication being obvious. He did not want his conversations about illegal activities being recorded. Mr. Dakik also stated that he did not want to risk anyone at his end or at Mr. Khoury's end. He confirmed in his testimony that that included people within Immigration.

205 On December 15, 2004, Diane Serré was observed placing a large brown letter-sized envelope into her bag prior to leaving work. Surveillance reports have Diane Serré arriving at the Dakik residence carrying a light brown envelope as well as her purse. She left at 18:40. At 18:42, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Khoury to advise that he had in his hands the applications the El Khouris had completed for their permanent resident cards - documents provided to him moments earlier by Ms. Serré. The problem was going to be how their permanent resident cards could get into their hands. There was only one woman at the Ottawa CIC office in charge of this. The two men discussed the viability of Mr. Khoury and others pretending to be Mr. El Khouri and his family, but it was clear this option was not going to work because it would be difficult to find people with similar features, and, in any event, only a professional could forge their signatures. Ultimately, Mr. Khoury suggested that his brother come to Canada during a holiday the following April. Mr. Dakik undertook to try to get a new letter issued stating that Mr. El Khouri had an appointment to pick up his permanent resident card at that time.

206 During this conversation, Mr. Dakik emphasized how his lawyer (i.e. Diane Serré) did not like to take risks.

207 During the search of Mr. Dakik's home on December 16, 2004, the following documents were located in the kitchen in a small CIC envelope: (1) a CIC call-in notice for Elias Kayrouz El Khouri dated November 3, 2004, (2) a CIC call-in notice for Mouna El Khouri dated November 3, 2004, (3) a notice to Kairouz Boulous El Khouri dated November 18, 2004 that his permanent resident card was available to be picked up on December 6, 2004, and (4) a two-page FOSS Client History printout dated December 1, 2004 relating to Kairouz Boulos El Khouri. At the same time, copies of "Authentic Permanent Resident Cards" for Mouna El Khouri, Elias Kayrouz El Khouri, and Kairouz Boulos El Khouri dated March 31, 1991 were located in a large brown CIC envelope. Diane Serré's fingerprint was found on the first document mentioned above. I find that the first three documents were provided to Mr. Dakik by John Khoury on November 29, 2004 and were shown to Diane Serré when she was at the Dakik residence later that day. The FOSS printout and the last set of documents were provided to Mr. Dakik by Ms. Serré.

208 Ms. Serré acted in breach of trust in regard to her duties as an immigration officer when she provided to Mr. Dakik confidential information and documentation regarding the El Khouri file; when she arranged for the El Khouris' permanent resident documents to be stored at the Ottawa CIC office instead of being returned to Nova Scotia, in the normal course, and revoked; when she brainstormed with Mr. Dakik about how the El Khouris could pick up their permanent resident cards without CIC realizing that they had not been living in Canada after they submitted their applications; and, most egregiously, when she instructed Mr. Dakik to tell John Khoury to pretend he was his brother when Ms. Serré called him back. Lies and deceits were not something Ms. Serré shied away from as she pursued financial gain through providing Mr. Dakik's clients with preferential treatment.

209 All of the essential elements of counts 15, 16, and 28 have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Zeinab Zbib (Counts 17, 18)

210 In 1999, Zeinab Zbib, along with her sister, Hayat, came to Canada from Lebanon on visitors' visas to help their cousin, Mahmoud Samih Zbib, care for his children after his wife's early death. Subsequently, Mahmoud Samih Zbib brought Sanaa Salman Chahine over from Lebanon to be his wife and take care of his children.

211 Zeinab and Hayat's brother, Mahmoud Ahmad Zbib had immigrated to Canada from Lebanon in 1988 and had long since become a Canadian citizen. In 2000, Hayat Zbib married Abdullah Al Bahrani, who then sponsored her application for permanent resident status. Zeinab, who had some psychological challenges and took medication for depression, continued to live with Mahmoud Ahmad Zbib and still does so today. Her condition is such that she is dependent on others for on-going support.

212 At some point, Zeinab Zbib applied for permanent resident status with the assistance of a lawyer, Arnie Weekes. Mr. Weekes passed away in 2003 or 2004, before Ms. Zbib's application had been considered. As of 2004, Zeinab Zbib was the only member of the Zbib family not to have permanent resident status in Canada. This was of concern to everyone because if, at some point, she had to return to Lebanon, there were no family members remaining in that country to help care for her. Until Ms. Zbib's permanent residence application was granted, she had to renew her visitor's visa every six months.

213 In 2004, Mahmoud Ahmad Zbib got to know Issam Dakik at Sea Sweets. About seven or eight months after Mr. Weekes died, Mr. Zbib asked Mr. Dakik if he would be able to help get permanent resident status for Zeinab Zbib, as Mr. Zbib had heard that Mr. Dakik had someone within Immigration who could help get immigration papers. Mr. Dakik acknowledged that he had someone, a lawyer, who could help with Zeinab's immigration documents.

214 Mr. Zbib passed on Mr. Dakik's name and telephone number to his sister, Hayat, who to date had been the family member helping Zeinab with immigration issues. At no point did Zeinab deal independently with anyone at CIC. Hayat called Mr. Dakik and sought his help with Zeinab's application. She was concerned because she had not yet received a response to her most recent application for a renewal of Zeinab's visitor's visa. Mr. Dakik told her that he had a lawyer who worked at Immigration or had connections at Immigration, and he would help her. Mr. Dakik asked Hayat for Zeinab's CIC file number so that he could give it to the lawyer to follow up. On that occasion, Mr. Dakik did not say what he could do for Zeinab.

215 Mr. Dakik said he was going to ask the lawyer how much it would cost to help Zeinab. Subsequently, he advised Hayat that it would cost $5,000. Later, he agreed to charge only $2,000 because, by the time Mr. Dakik became involved on the file, most of the work had been done to get Zeinab permanent resident status. Hayat paid Mr. Dakik $2,000. Mr. Dakik said that the money would be going to the lawyer.

216 After Mr. Dakik brought the Zeinab Zbib file to the attention of Diane Serré, Ms. Serré assigned the file to Rémi Larivière, telling him to make sure that the stage two approval for permanent resident status occurred as quickly as possible. Ms. Serré asked Mr. Larivière to have documents submitted for the renewal of Ms. Zbib's medical report and criminal records check, because they had expired. On June 17, 2004, Mr. Larivière wrote to Zeinab Zbib asking her to get her fingerprints taken and submitted to the Ottawa CIC office. Subsequently, Ms. Zbib sent in her fingerprints, and her security clearance and criminal records check were updated. Mr. Larivière saw no evidence on the file that her medical report had been updated, but confirmation of that may have appeared on FOSS.

217 What is significant is that Ms. Serré would speak to Mr. Larivière approximately once per week to find out what was happening on the file. This was the only time Mr. Larivière ever saw a supervisor ask an immigration officer to follow up on a stage two approval. As well, it was most uncommon for a supervisor to check up on an immigration officer's progress on a file on a weekly basis. Normally a certain amount of time would pass before a supervisor would ask for an update. Clearly, Ms. Serré was singling out Ms. Zbib's file for special treatment, and she was doing so in order to benefit financially.

218 On Thursday, August 5, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Mahmoud Ahmad Zbib to see if he had received a call from Immigration. Mr. Zbib had received a call setting up an appointment on August 9, 2004. Mr. Zbib was unsure as to the purpose of the appointment. Mr. Dakik reported that he had met with the lawyer (i.e. Diane Serré) and they were following up on the security check because it was the only thing that was delaying Zeinab's application. He undertook to check on why an appointment had been arranged for the following Monday. As soon as he hung up, Mr. Dakik called Diane Serré to tell her than an appointment regarding the Zbib file had been arranged for the following Monday and to ask her the purpose of the appointment. She undertook to find out and drop by the Dakik residence after work the following day.

219 On August 6, 2004 at 17:45, when surveillance placed Diane Serré at the Dakik residence, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Zbib to reassure him that the only thing the Immigration office wanted was for new security forms to be completed. During the same conversation, Mr. Dakik advised that the medical examination results for Zeinab had not yet arrived. Mr. Zbib confirmed that Zeinab had gone for the examination with Dr. Mansour on "the same day", which presumably referred to an earlier occasion when there had been communication of some sort between Mr. Dakik and Mr. Zbib. Hayat Zbib later confirmed that the medical check-up had been on June 22, 2004. Mr. Dakik anticipated that the results would arrive shortly.

220 On August 9, 2004, Chantal Pilon faxed "Marc", whom I find to be Marc Gondin at CSIS, a copy of Ms. Zbib's application for permanent residence.

221 On September 9, 2004, Ms. Serré advised Mr. Dakik that nothing was new on the Zbib file, and that Dr. Mansour's medical report had not yet arrived. She advised Mr. Dakik to tell the client to inquire whether Dr. Mansour had submitted the report. Ms. Serré undertook to ask for a follow-up on that file the following week.

222 On September 16, 2004, Ms. Serré visited the Dakik residence after work. On September 17th, Mr. Zbib advised Mr. Dakik that Dr. Mansour's medical report had only been sent on September 13th. Mr. Dakik advised that he had been checking "the system" repeatedly to see if the medical report had been filed and the lawyer had begun to wonder if a file had even been opened for Zeinab at the doctor's office. Mr. Dakik reassured Mr. Zbib that Zeinab had been approved for permanent resident status and they were just awaiting the medical report to get things finalized. That was the first time Mr. Zbib learned of the approval.

223 On Friday, October 1, 2004, shortly after surveillance reports place Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré together at a McDonald's Restaurant, Mr. Dakik called Hayat's husband, Mr. Al Bahrani, to warn the family that the Ottawa CIC office would be contacting Mahmoud Ahmad Zbib on Monday or Tuesday of the following week to ask Zeinab to come into the office. The plan was for it to become apparent that everything was ready on the file except for receipt of medical approval. Mr. Dakik was aware that Dr. Mansour had sent his report to CIC's medical authorities on September 13, 2004, but the report had not yet arrived. Mr. Dakik wanted to expedite the process because he knew immigration officers were set to strike the following Thursday. That was confidential information which he had received from Ms. Serré.

224 On October 3, 2004 at 15:17, when surveillance reports place Ms. Serré at the Dakik residence, Mr. Dakik called Hayat Zbib to make sure she was aware of the information that had to be provided to the immigration officer concerning Zeinab's doctor and the timing of her medical examination. During the conversation, Mr. Dakik said: "... my lawyer is presently talking with, I mean with the, the people that we could depend on from the inside". He said that hopefully once everything was wrapped up, they could make the lawyer happy - which Hayat interpreted as meaning that the Zbibs would pay Mr. Dakik the agreed upon sum. It is clear that is what Mr. Dakik meant.

225 As Mr. Dakik predicted, on October 4, 2004, Rémi Larivière from the Ottawa CIC office called Mahmoud Ahmad Zbib to get further medical information concerning Zeinab, including the name of her doctor, and to advise that she needed a valid Lebanese passport. That morning, both Chantal Pilon and Rémi Larivière accessed the Medical Status information screen for Zeinab on FOSS and, shortly thereafter, someone from an outside branch updated Zeinab's medical information on FOSS. After Mr. Larivière had spoken to Mr. Zbib, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Zbib to confirm that the call had occurred and urged Mr. Zbib to update Zeinab's passport the following morning and obtain extra photographs for the permanent resident card. Mr. Dakik explained that someone at the Ottawa CIC office would make sure that the medical report was done and that it would be given priority at CIC's medical office so that Zeinab's permanent residence application could be finalized before a strike that was to start on October 7.

226 There were further conversations on October 4th between Hayat Zbib and Mr. Dakik and Mr. Dakik and Mr. Al Bahrani about Zeinab's passport, as there was some confusion as to its actual expiry date. Mr. Dakik called Hayat at 16:42 when surveillance reports placed Ms. Serré at the Dakik residence with documents in her possession. Mr. Dakik reassured Ms. Zbib, after consulting with Ms. Serré, that the person who called the family from the Ottawa CIC office was not saying that Zeinab's passport had expired - the person was just stating that Zeinab would have to present a valid passport before she could be given permanent resident status. In this conversation, Mr. Dakik specifically stated that he was meeting at the time with "the lawyer". In another conversation later that day, when Mr. Dakik told Ms. Serré that he did not think the Zbib matter would be finalized until Wednesday, he referred to Zeinab Zbib's passport as "Vivian".

227 In the end, Zeinab found out on October 5th that her passport was valid. Mr. Dakik called Hayat to confirm that everything was ready for the appointment at Immigration the following day. The call ended with Hayat and Mr. Dakik speaking or arranging a meeting so that Hayat could pay him $2,000 as promised. A short while later, Mr. Dakik called Hayat back to warn her not to mention that she knew anyone when she went to the Ottawa CIC office and, more particularly, not to say that the lawyer had told them to go to the office. Hayat said: "we are mute, deaf and blind" - the implication being obvious. Mr. Dakik told them to say that they had an appointment to pick up Zeinab's permanent resident card. If there were any difficulties, they were to ask to speak to the manager, who at the time was Diane Serré.

228 On October 6, Mahmoud Ahmad Zbib and Hayat Zbib took Zeinab to the Ottawa CIC office. They met with Mr. Larivière. Zeinab was not interviewed. She simply had to sign for her permanent resident card. Zeinab left the meeting with a temporary card witnessing her being landed; the permanent card was to be mailed to her. Later that same day, in a telephone call between Mr. Dakik and Hayat to arrange for the final payment to Mr. Dakik, he said to Hayat: "I mean we will try to finish tonight so we can as well, as we have pleased you, we are able to please the lawyer as well." That night, Hayat and Mr. Dakik met at the gas station where Mr. Al Bahrani worked at which time Hayat paid Mr. Dakik $2,000 in cash. She did not get a receipt. She understood from Mr. Dakik that the money would be going to the lawyer.

229 While Mr. Dakik was en route to get paid, he called his wife and told her to keep Diane Serré at the house because he was going to get some money and then would be home. Once Mr. Dakik had received payment, he again called his wife, who advised him not to be long because Diane Serré was waiting for him at their house and she was sleepy. Mr. Dakik confirmed that he was on his way and he had just got paid. Placing this telephone call in context, it is obvious that Mr. Dakik wanted Ms. Serré to wait for him to get home so that he could give her a portion of the monies that he had just been paid. Surveillance reports placed Ms. Serré at the Dakik home when Mr. Dakik returned, and she departed very shortly thereafter.

230 During the search of Ms. Serré's residence on December 16, 2004, paper was seized from a shredder in the basement. A paper reconstructionist was able to reassemble parts of some documents - one being a FOSS printout relating to Zeinab Zbib.

231 A little while later, Mahmoud Ahmad Zbib learned that Mr. Dakik had been arrested. Mr. Dakik subsequently came into the Shawarma Shack where Mr. Zbib was working to tell him never to say anything to anyone about his having paid money to Mr. Dakik to assist with Zeinab's immigration application. This meeting occurred prior to Mr. Zbib being interviewed by the police.

232 In some of the conversations between Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré in regard to the Zbib file, they spoke in code, with Mr. Dakik referring to Mr. or Ms. Zbib as "my friend", and Ms. Serré asking if that was "the one" that they were taking care of before Mr. Dakik left on holidays.

233 From September 29, 2004 to October 6, 2004, Zeinab Zbib's FOSS file was accessed numerous times by Chantal Pilon, Rémi Larivière, and others at the Ottawa CIC office, but not by Diane Serré. I place no significance on this because Mr. Larivière's evidence was that, during this period, Ms. Serré asked him repeatedly for updates on the file.

234 Ms. Serré acted in breach of trust in regard to her duties as an immigration officer when she provided Mr. Dakik with confidential information and advice regarding Zeinab Zbib's file, when she instructed Rémi Larivière to give priority to her file when there was no valid reason for her to do so, and when she accepted money for her assistance on the file.

235 All of the essential elements of counts 17 and 18 have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sharifa Almoredey (Counts 19, 20, 21)

236 Sharifa Almoredey, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, came to Canada from Kuwait in July 2001 with her two daughters. She came as a visitor, but her intention was to stay here forever. Her daughters' father, from whom Ms. Almoredey was separated, was already living here, and he had already applied for his daughters to become permanent residents. Ms. Almoredey applied for and obtained refugee status. She was then waiting to get her permanent resident cards.

237 Ali Nasser referred Sharifa Almoredey to Issam Dakik for assistance in finalizing her permanent residence application. She understood that he was a lawyer. On August 19, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Almoredey after receiving her telephone number from Mr. Nasser. During their first conversation, Mr. Dakik said he would come to her house to look at her papers and he would charge $300 for the consultation. He described this sum as being the fees for opening the file "that are given to ... the lawyer who will study your file". He said it took an hour and a half or two hours of work with the lawyer. Then, once he understood what had to be done on the file, he would advise her of the cost for him to expedite it. Following this conversation, Mr. Dakik went to Ms. Almoredey's home and obtained the necessary details to pass on to Ms. Serré so that she could look at her CIC file.

238 Mr. Dakik was anxious to get hold of Diane Serré later in the day after his meeting with Ms. Almoredey and arranged to meet her that evening at Loblaws before she went out for dinner with her spouse to celebrate her birthday. When they met at Loblaws that evening, Mr. Dakik provided Ms. Serré with the details that allowed her to review Ms. Almoredey's file and Ms. Serré undertook to go to the Dakik residence the following day.

239 The next day, August 20th, Ms. Serré accessed Ms. Almoredey's FOSS file at 15:19 and again at 17:10 and looked at the Work in Progress, the Remarks, and the Events screens, including the client's medical status. After work, she went to Mr. Dakik's home and provided him with information and/or documentation concerning Ms. Almoredey's file. After their meeting, Mr. Dakik went to Ms. Almoredey's home and explained to her what she needed to do in order to get permanent resident status. During that meeting, he advised her that she would need to get a medical exam from her family doctor. He also asked her for a further payment of $1,500. Immediately following this meeting, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré, who was still at the Dakik home, and explained to her, in code, that Ms. Almoredey was on welfare and therefore he would have to wait to be paid by her. There was no reason for Mr. Dakik to have made this telephone call unless the understanding between him and Ms. Serré was that she would receive a portion of the monies paid to him by Ms. Almoredey.

240 During a telephone conversation on August 21, 2004, Ms. Almoredey bemoaned the fact that she did not have money to pay Mr. Dakik, but she told him that another woman would like to meet with him about an immigration problem. Mr. Dakik went to Ms. Almoredey's home that evening.

241 On August 23, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Almoredey to confirm that she had received a call from Immigration and would be attending at the Ottawa CIC office the following day in regard to her medical test and to provide Immigration with photos. Mr. Dakik, again in code, asked Ms. Almoredey if she had the money ready and if he could come and get it the following day. She said he could. Surveillance reports show that Mr. Dakik did in fact attend at Ms. Almoredey's residence on August 24th. He had no reason to visit her on that date except to pick up a payment. Surveillance reports also show that Ms. Serré went to the Dakik home that evening.

242 During her evidence, Ms. Almoredey claimed that she never paid Mr. Dakik anything further after the initial $300 because she had not received her permanent residence papers prior to his arrest. I do not accept this as being accurate, in that Mr. Dakik subsequently offered to refund money to Ms. Almoredey when matters did not proceed as quickly as he had initially predicted, and Ms. Almoredey refused. Mr. Dakik would not have offered to refund the initial $300, as he considered this to be a payment just for looking at Ms. Almoredey's file and reporting to her on where matters stood. Mr. Dakik made this clear during his testimony when he was explaining a telephone conversation he had with Mahmoud Samih Zbib on November 28, 2004. After Ms. Almoredey declined the offer of reimbursement, Mr. Dakik suggested that Ms. Serré come over to his home later that evening for what I interpret as being a payment of money in regard to this file.

243 On August 31, 2004, Ms. Almoredey had a medical exam done at Dr. Mansour's office. When Dr. Mansour's medical report had still not been received by Immigration as of September 18, 2004, Mr. Dakik asked Ms. Almoredey to return to Dr. Mansour's office and demand that he send his report. She did so and learned that the report had been submitted on September 13th. In a telephone conversation on September 20th, Mr. Dakik advised her that it would take four to six weeks for her immigration papers to be ready. On October 5, 2004, Mr. Dakik advised Ms. Almoredey that he had been checking her file regularly and the medical report should be in the system within two to three weeks.

244 On October 22, 2004, at 10:43, Ms. Serré did a Client History on Ms. Almoredey's file on the FOSS system. At 11:56 on the same day, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Almoredey to advise that the medical report had still not arrived at Immigration, and he urged her to return to Dr. Mansour's office to confirm that he had sent it.

245 At 17:27 on October 26, 2004, when surveillance reports placed Ms. Serré at Mr. Dakik's residence, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Almoredey to advise her that the medical report was in the system at Immigration, and the Ottawa CIC office would now ask Vegreville to forward her file - a process that could take six to eight weeks. This was information that Mr. Dakik had received from Diane Serré. Ms. Almoredey felt that Mr. Dakik had not lived up to his promise to get her permanent resident status by November, at the latest. He replied that the delay was not his fault - it had been caused by Immigration staff being on strike, by Dr. Mansour being late filing his medical report, and by Vegreville taking longer than usual to send her file to the Ottawa CIC office. He stated that her file could not have been requested from Vegreville any earlier or else "they" would sense that someone was doing Ms. Almoredey a favour.

246 On November 19, 2004, both Diane Serré and Chantal Pilon did a Client History on FOSS for Ms. Almoredey. Later that day, someone at Vegreville did a Client History and also initiated an event on Ms. Almoredey's file. It is clear from an email located in Ms. Serré's office at the time of the search on December 16, 2004 that, on November 19th, Ms. Serré had asked Chantal Pilon to look into the Almoredey file and find out when Vegreville would be sending the file to the Ottawa CIC office. Ms. Pilon emailed Vegreville on the same day, asking when Vegreville expected the file to be completed. Someone from Vegreville emailed a response later that same day saying that Ms. Almoredey's permanent residence application should be processed within the next two months. On November 23rd, Ms. Pilon forwarded this email to Ms. Serré.

247 Meanwhile, in the evening of November 19, 2004, Ms. Serré attended at the Dakik residence. While Ms. Serré was there, Mr. Dakik attempted to reach Ms. Almoredey and reached her later that evening. He advised her that, hopefully, she would receive her immigration papers within the next two weeks, and he undertook to call her on Monday to tell her when her appointment would be. He said "the lawyer" (i.e. Ms. Serré) was working on her case right now in order to fix her up with an appointment.

248 On both November 22 and 25, 2004, Ms. Serré did further client histories on Ms. Almoredey's file. During the search of Ms. Serré's office on December 16th, a FOSS Client History for Sharifa Almoredey dated November 25, 2004 was found in a basket on Ms. Serré's desk.

249 On November 24, 2004, Mr. Dakik, using code, told Ms. Serré to call Ms. Almoredey the following day. He then told Ms. Almoredey that she could expect a phone call from Immigration to let her know where things stood. His message to her was that it could still take a month or two for her file to arrive from Vegreville. It is clear that, by this time, Ms. Serré had conveyed to Mr. Dakik the information passed on to her by Chantal Pilon on November 23rd.

250 On November 25, 2004, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré to remind her to call Ms. Almoredey. Within a couple of minutes, Ms. Serré had accessed Ms. Almoredey's FOSS file and had called her to advise that her medical reports were on the file and the Ottawa CIC office was just awaiting transfer of her file from Vegreville, which could take four to six weeks. Ms. Serré reassured Ms. Almoredey that once the file arrived, her permanent resident papers would be prepared and she would be landed. Ms. Serré confirmed that Ms. Almoredey's "lawyer" (i.e. Issam Dakik) had been working on her behalf. This is a very obvious way in which Ms. Serré aided Mr. Dakik in perpetrating immigration fraud.

251 A few minutes later, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Almoredey to confirm that she had heard from Immigration. During that conversation, he offered to give back the money Ms. Almoredey had earlier paid him for his assistance on her file. Within minutes of speaking with Ms. Almoredey, Mr. Dakik called Ms. Serré. I interpret the terse code language he used as confirming that Ms. Almoredey was "OK" with the financial arrangements that they had negotiated. Mr. Dakik arranged for Ms. Serré to come by his house later that day, and I find the purpose of that visit was so that Mr. Dakik could provide Ms. Serré with her portion of the money that he had received to date from Ms. Almoredey.

252 When speaking to each other regarding the Almoredey file, Mr. Dakik and Ms. Serré used code, referring to Sharifa Almoredey as "the mechanic" or, on occasion, "Vivian". When Mr. Dakik was first asking Ms. Serré for information about the file, he said: "for tomorrow we ... just wanna know if I can fix the car and how long it takes" which I find to be Mr. Dakik questioning Ms. Serré as to whether they could expedite matters on Ms. Almoredey's file and how long it likely would take to get her permanent resident status.

253 Ms. Serré acted in breach of trust in regard to her duties as an immigration officer when she provided Mr. Dakik with confidential information regarding Ms. Almoredey's file, when she afforded Ms. Almoredey preferential treatment by instructing Chantal Pilon to make special inquiries at Vegreville regarding the Almoredey file, when she called Ms. Almoredey to give her an update, and when she accepted money for providing this preferential treatment.

254 All of the essential elements of counts 19 to 21 have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Fares Hamze (Counts 23, 24, 25, 26)

255 Fares Hamze came to Canada in 1990 as a landed immigrant. In 1994, he applied for Canadian citizenship. Before he got citizenship, he was convicted of theft in 1990 and then trafficking in a narcotic in 1997. As a result of these convictions, Mr. Hamze lost his permanent resident status. A removal order was made against him. He appealed to the Immigration Review Board. In 2000, the removal order was stayed for a period of five years on the understanding that, if he was law-abiding over this period, he would regain his landed status. In 2004, in return for a payment of $10,000, Mr. Hamze agreed to act as a police agent in an undercover operation targeting Issam Dakik. Officers Mark Tessier and Steven Ethier were Mr. Hamze's handlers.

256 On December 3, 2004, Mr. Hamze called Mr. Dakik, seeking his help in regard to his immigration status. Mr. Dakik wanted to know who had referred Mr. Hamze to him. Mr. Hamze would not say. Initially, Mr. Dakik said he could not help him if he did not divulge who had referred him. Mr. Hamze said he had overheard a group of people, whom he did not know, speaking of what Mr. Dakik could do, and he asked them for his phone number. Eventually, Mr. Dakik agreed to call him back.

257 A few minutes later, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Hamze and asked for his story. Mr. Hamze explained how he had lost his permanent resident status after his last conviction, how he had been appealing that since he got out of jail, how there had been numerous hearings, and how he was waiting for the result of the last appeal before a judge in Montreal. Mr. Dakik offered to meet with Mr. Hamze that evening. Mr. Hamze declined saying that he had to work. The real reason was that it took time for the RCMP to set up surveillance and a wire. The men agreed to meet on Sunday. Mr. Dakik advised Mr. Hamze that he would need his name, birth date, and immigration file number so that his file could be accessed. Mr. Dakik said there would be a fee of $300 for him to look at the file, find out what was going on, and provide Mr. Hamze with any information he did not already have. At that point Mr. Dakik would be able to tell Mr. Hamze, in his words, "if we can help you with anything", at which point they would say "that's what we can do for you and that's how much it is going to cost you." In the same conversation, Mr. Dakik said he would be asking "the lawyer" to work on his file. As soon as he hung up with Mr. Hamze, Mr. Dakik called his wife at Viva Esthetics, looking for Diane Serré. When his wife advised that Diane would only be coming to the shop later, Mr. Dakik asked his wife to give her $50, saying she would know what that was about. Later, when speaking with Ms. Serré, Mr. Dakik said that he might have something Sunday - referring to the Hamze matter. During the same conversation, they had coded discussions about the other active files they had at that time.

258 On Sunday, December 5, 2004, Officers Tessier and Ethier gave Mr. Hamze six, marked, $50 bills so that he could pay the $300 fee requested by Mr. Dakik. They also outfitted him with a body pack. Mr. Hamze called Mr. Dakik to arrange an appointment. Mr. Dakik suggested they meet at Cremino's at 14:30. The meeting occurred as arranged, and the premises were under surveillance. Mr. Hamze provided Mr. Dakik with the information he needed to pull the file, and Mr. Hamze gave Mr. Dakik the six $50 bills. Mr. Dakik undertook to give the information to the lawyer that afternoon or the following day so that the lawyer could get the papers to him right away and he would be able to show them to Mr. Hamze on Monday or Tuesday, at the latest. Mr. Dakik said that it would be easier to help Mr. Hamze if his file were in Ottawa, rather than Montreal. Immediately after this meeting, Mr. Dakik tried to contact Diane Serré.

259 Diane Serré was unable to meet with Mr. Dakik on December 5th but went to the Dakik residence after work on December 6th. While she was there, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Hamze and arranged to meet with him on December 8th in the evening, saying that he had given the information to the lawyer that day.

260 On December 7th, Diane Serré did a name query on FOSS for "Fares Hamze" and, once his file had been located, went to the Client History and made a number of inquiries regarding documents noted there. In a telephone conversation later that day, despite bad weather, Mr. Dakik persuaded Diane Serré to come to the Dakik home after work. Surveillance reports have Ms. Serré arriving at the Dakik home at 18:00 carrying a bag in addition to her purse. I find that Ms. Serré brought with her documents from Mr. Hamze's immigration file. She left the Dakik home at 19:07. At 19:22, Mr. Dakik called Mr. Hamze to say that there was nothing he could do to help Mr. Hamze because he had lost his permanent resident status and his future rested in the hands of a judge. The court had allowed him to stay in the country for five years, but it was up to the court what happened to him after that. Mr. Hamze said he still wanted to see Mr. Dakik the following evening, and Mr. Dakik agreed to meet so that he could show Mr. Hamze the documents he had in his hands.

261 On December 8th, Mr. Dakik and Mr. Hamze again met at Cremino's. The premises were under surveillance, a video was taken of the meeting, and Mr. Hamze was again wearing a body pack. Mr. Dakik had in his possession copies of documents from Mr. Hamze's CIC file. He proceeded to read portions of them to Mr. Hamze and to show the documents to Mr. Hamze. It is clear he was reading from the same documents found in Ms. Serré's residence at the time of the search on December 16, 2004; namely, seven pages of FOSS documents pertaining to Fares Hassan Hamze, with the headings Client History, Remarks, and Appeals-IAD. Mr. Dakik's fingerprint was found on one of these pages.

262 During the conversation, Mr. Dakik claimed to have asked the lawyer how Mr. Hamze was going to be able to get landed, and the lawyer had responded that it was impossible. Mr. Hamze would have to reapply and, as soon as Immigration saw his criminal record, they would refuse his application. According to Mr. Dakik, the lawyer said: "Even if the guy pays us a $100,000, we have nothing to give to him in return". Mr. Hamze asked Mr. Dakik if he could have the documents that Mr. Dakik had brought with him, but Mr. Dakik refused saying something to the effect that heads could roll if he gave Mr. Hamze the documents. Shortly after the meeting, Mr. Hamze made notes as to what he saw on each page of the documents Mr. Dakik showed him. His description matched the documents from Mr. Hamze's CIC file found at Ms. Serré's residence.

263 During the search of Diane Serré's residence on December 16, 2004, the six $50 bills provided to Mr. Hamze by the RCMP and given by him to Mr. Dakik were found, along with other cash, in a safe in the closet of the master bedroom. I find that Diane Serré knowingly accepted these funds in payment for the assistance she provided to Mr. Hamze, through Mr. Dakik, in regard to his immigration problems. In addition to this breach of trust, I find that Ms. Serré also acted in breach of trust in regard to her duties as an immigration officer when she provided Mr. Dakik with confidential information, documentation, and advice regarding Mr. Hamze's CIC file.

264 All of the essential elements of counts 23 to 26 have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Elie Badaan (Count 27)

265 At some point, Issam Dakik asked Diane Serré for assistance in regard to the permanent residence application of his brother-in-law, Elie Badaan. During the search of Diane Serré's residence on December 16, 2004, torn pieces of paper with the words: "Elie Badaan July 10th, 1965" were found discarded in Ms. Serré's master bedroom. I find that the information on this paper had been given to Ms. Serré by Issam Dakik so that she could conduct a search on FOSS to locate Mr. Badaan's CIC file.

266 On December 15, 2004, Diane Serré did in fact do a search on the system to obtain Mr. Badaan's CIC file number. Subsequently, she obtained a Client History from his file and reviewed the Work in Process and Remarks screens, as well as examining Remarks relating to various specific documents. During the search of Issam Dakik's residence on December 16, 2004, a five-page FOSS Client History printout and a two-page FOSS Work in Process-Remarks printout from Elie Badaan's immigration file were found in the kitchen. Both documents were dated December 15, 2004 at 4:05 p.m. - the exact time Ms. Serré was accessing Mr. Badaan's Client History and related documents. One of the pages entitled Work in Process-Remarks had Ms. Serré's fingerprint on it. There is no question that Mr. Dakik was given these FOSS documents by Diane Serré - a clear breach of trust on her part.

267 Ultimately, Ms. Serré told Mr. Dakik that there was nothing she could do at that time to expedite Mr. Badaan's immigration application.

268 All of the essential elements of count 27 have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Disposition

269 I find Diane Serré guilty as charged in regard to all counts on the indictment other than count 22.

C.D. AITKEN J.

cp/e/qljel/qlpmg











1 In regard to the Dalank, Chahine, Nader, El Zein, Almoredey, and Hamze files.



2 In regard to the Dalank, Chahine, Nader, El Zein, Zidan, Khoury, Zbib, Almoredey, Hamze files.



3 In regard to the Dalank, Chahine, Nader, El Zein, Zidan, Khoury, Zbib, Almoredey, Hamze, and Badaan files.



4 In regard to the Hamze file.



5 In regard to the Dalank, Nader, and Almoredey files.



6 In regard to the Chahine, El Zein, Khoury, Zbib files.



7 In regard to the Zidan file.



8 In regard to the Hamze file.



9 Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227.



10 See Inland Processing Manual 1, paras. 5.6, 17.2 and 17.3.



11 Subsequently Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (also referred to herein as "HRDC").



12 See telephone calls of September 9, 2004, November 25, 2004, December 1, 2004, and December 2, 2004.



13 See also R. v. Kirk (2004), 188 C.C.C. (3d) 329 (Ont.C.A.) at para. 13 and R. v. Adeyokunnu, 2011 ONSC 6380 - two other fraud cases where similar fact evidence was admissible relating to all counts on multiple count indictments.



14 D. Paciocco and L. Stuesser, The Law of Evidence 5th ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2008) at pp. 155-6; J. Sopinka, S.N. Lederman and A.W. Bryant, The Law of Evidence in Canada 3rd ed. (Markham: Lexis Nexis Canada Inc., 2009) at pp. 383-389.



15 R. v. Yellow Old Woman (No. 2), (2003) ABCA 342, 181 C.C.C. (3d) 439 leave to appeal refused (2004), 184 C.C.C. (3d) vi (S.C.C.)



16 See Chahine, El Zein, El Khouri, and Almoredey files.



17 See Inland Processing Manual 8, para. 5.4.