Alberta Mountie accused of leaking information

C A LG A RY A frontline Alberta Mountie has been accused of accessing police record systems to help a “foreign actor,” RCMP said Tuesday.

The officer was arrested Saturday, the RCMP federal policing integrated national security enforcement team said in a news release.

The records involved in the alleged breach were not top secret, the release said.

The release did not provide details on the duties of the suspect or the type of information accessed. A CBC report cited court records indicating the alleged recipient of the information was the Republic of Rwanda.

“Foreign interference takes on many forms and it is critical that all organizations are aware of the potential harm at any levels,” police said in the statement.

“The RCMP will pursue any form of interference, whether internal or external, and this is a good example of the efforts being made.”

Const. Eli Ndatuje has been charged under the Criminal Code with breach of trust, unauthorized use of a computer and breach of trust in respect to safeguarded information.

A first court appearance is scheduled in Calgary provincial court for March 11.

There have been other recent high-profile cases involving information breaches.

A former RCMP intelligence official who had led an RCMP group that assembled classified information on cybercriminals, terror cells and transnational criminal networks was sentenced last week to 14 years in prison for violating Canada's secrets law.

In January, a 911 operator in Calgary was accused of pulling data from searches on individuals involved in organized crime, then providing the information to others involved in that activity.