Alberta RCMP officer charged after police records accessed for the Republic of Rwanda

A front-line Alberta RCMP officer, accused of accessing police record systems and sharing information with the Republic of Rwanda, has been charged as part of a national security investigation.

In a Tuesday news release, RCMP said its federal policing integrated national security enforcement team (INSET) arrested the front-line police officer who accessed “non-top secret RCMP records systems” to assist a “foreign actor.”

RCMP confirmed the foreign actor involved was the Republic of Rwanda.

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

Ndatuje's first court appearance is scheduled for March 11 in Calgary Provincial Court.

RCMP said upon learning of the security breach, it implemented measures to monitor, mitigate and manage any further unauthorized disclosures of information.

“The RCMP is committed to combatting foreign actor interference at all levels and is actively leveraging all tools at its disposal,” RCMP said in the news release.

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

The investigation is ongoing and the matter is now before the courts. RCMP said it will have no further comment at this time.

Any suspected foreign interference activities can be reported to local police or RCMP National Security Information Network by phone at 1-800-420-5805 or by email at [e-mail].

Information breaches

Last week, an Ontario court sentenced former RCMP intelligence official Cameron Ortis to 14 years in jail.

Ortis was found guilty of violating four counts of the official secrets law in November. He was convicted of leaking or attempting to leak operational information to four individuals.

Before he was arrested in September 2019, Ortis was the Director General of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Coordination Centre.

In January, a 58-year-old woman who was employed by Calgary’s 911 service as a calltaker was charged with a number of offences connected to organized crime.

Mariana Buonincontri was accused of sharing personal information of individuals connected to organized crime, with others also known to be involved in organized crime.

Buonincontri was charged with breach of trust, fraudulent use of a computer system to obtain, directly or indirectly, a computer services and wilfully committing mischief in relation to computer data.

Calgary police said since the accused was employed as a 911 calltaker, the allegations are particularly serious.

With files from CTV News Channel Senior Political Correspondent Mike Le Couteur