Title: Further details revealed about Hong Kong `scam'

Title: Further details revealed about Hong Kong `scam'

Source: Edmonton Journal, September 10, 1999, Final Edition, p.A10

There is evidence someone working inside Canada's consulate

in Hong Kong was selling visas to an immigration consultant through

a back channel, an RCMP officer and former diplomat contend.

The allegations were levelled Wednesday by suspended RCMP corporal

Robert Read and former diplomat Brian McAdam, the immigration

control officer at Canada's consulate in Hong Kong between 1991 and

1993.

Read told reporters of ``an under-the-table arrangement whereby

there was an illicit application system operating alongside the

legitimate process,'' the Toronto Star said Thursday in a report

from Ottawa.

Read said the alleged scam involved a Hong Kong immigration

consultant, and claimed there was evidence in RCMP files the man was

working with a Canadian consulate staffer who had top-level access

to the computer system used to process applications for residence in

Canada.

Read, who identified both the consultant and the Canadian staffer,

contends there was evidence the staffer was taking ``phantom

applications'' from the consultant for a fee and processing visas

without ever entering the applications in the computer.

Read and McAdam have made waves in recent weeks by going public

with allegations that a corrupt immigration scam at Canada's mission

in Hong Kong was covered up by senior officials.

They have alleged that between 1986 and 1992 the computer system at

the Hong Kong consulate was infiltrated and that files were altered

to allow criminals to get into Canada.

A senior Canadian diplomat says new preventive measures are in

place to foil any possible security breaches in processing visas.

Bruce Gillies, of the Hong Kong-China division of the Department of

Foreign Affairs, said there have been three staff audits since the

handover to China and that new controls have been placed on computer

access.

Title: The story so far

Byline: Fabian Dawson; Staff Reporter

Source: The Province (Vancouver), August 29, 1999, Final Edition, p.A3

Last Thursday, in an exclusive investigative report, The

Province shed light on a seven-year probe by the RCMP into the

alleged infiltration of the immigration computer at the Canadian

diplomatic mission in Hong Kong.

The alleged infiltration of the Computer Assisted Immigration

Processing System is said to be the work of some locally engaged

staff with links to triads -- the Chinese Mafia. It was initially

brought to light by the then immigration control officer, Brian

McAdam, who provided a series of RCMP officers with loads of leads.

In 1992, two investigators, one from the department of external

affairs and the other from the RCMP, flew to Hong Kong to look into

the case.

Despite being told of files being deleted, finding fake immigration

stamps and discovering that locally engaged staff had given

themselves unauthorised high-level security clearance to issue

visas, neither pursued the matter, and the case was closed in 1992.

McAdam continued with his reports alleging that 788 files with

sensitive background information on criminals and businessmen had

been removed from the computer and that nearly 2,000 blank visa

forms were missing.

RCMP reactivated the investigation in 1995 and worked with the

Canadian spy agency, which launched Operation Sidewinder to look at

the extent of Chinese espionage in this country. That operation was

abruptly halted.

After a series of RCMP officers were assigned the case and abruptly

transferred, Cpl. Robert Read of the RCMP immigration and passport

section in Ottawa was assigned the file in September 1996.

Finding gaping holes in the earlier investigations and leads not

being followed up, he recommended that a thorough investigation be

done. He was taken off the case.

Suspecting internal collusion to keep the matter hidden, Read filed

an obstruction-of-justice complaint in January 1998, alleging that

his superiors were trying to cover up the issue.

After the first report in The Province on Thursday, the RCMP

confirmed that they are investigating the penetration of the

computer and other improprieties involving staff at the diplomatic

mission.

The next day, The Province tracked down a key suspect in the

infiltration of the computer to North Vancouver. This was the woman

whom the first RCMP investigator in 1992 said he could not find.

Documents allege that investigators found fake Canadian immigration

stamps in her desk. She now works as an immigration consultant.

On Friday, the auditor-general's office in Ottawa said it is also

looking at the case to determine if Canadian tax dollars were being

abused at the diplomatic mission in Hong Kong.

The solicitor-general's office has also received a

five-centimetre-thick dossier on certain clandestine goings-on

involving high-ranking officials at the Canadian mission in Hong

Kong and alleged links between certain politicians and triad

leaders.

The story has been making headlines around the world, especially in

Hong Kong, where the major dailies carried wire versions of the

Province expose.

Title: Were our officials bribed in Hong Kong?: Mounties are investigating a night at the races and little red envelopes stuffed with dollars

Byline: Fabian Dawson; Staff Reporter

Source: The Province (Vancouver), August 29, 1999, Final Edition, p.A2

It was called a night at the races.

That's when ``Granny Pong'' stood at the entrance of the posh

private room at the Happy Valley race track, dishing out little red

envelopes to employees of the Canadian diplomatic mission in Hong

Kong.

In each packet was $1,000 HK (about $200 Cdn at today's rates),

so-called lucky money for diplomats and other staff at the Canadian

commission to either bet on the horses or take home.

Now some of those who took this money from wealthy Hong Kong

socialites may not be so lucky.

The RCMP confirmed Friday that it is looking at this type of

incident and other alleged improprieties involving staff at the

Canadian commission (now consulate general) in Hong Kong during the

height of the immigration wave from the then British colony.

``We cannot get into the specifics of the investigation, but we are

looking at other improprieties in addition to the CAIPS incident,''

said RCMP Cpl. Marc Richer from Ottawa.

The ``CAIPS incident'' -- the acronym stands for Computer-Assisted

Immigration Processing System -- was detailed in an exclusive

Province report last Thursday.

It involved claims that locally engaged staff were paid to delete

from the CAIPS immigration computer sensitive background information

on criminals and businessmen seeking to migrate to Canada and that

some 2,000 blank visa forms had disappeared from the mission.

Documents obtained by The Province show that police are also

investigating at least one incident involving the little red

envelopes that occurred in 1991.

In addition, suspicions have also been raised against certain staff

who received lavish going-away gifts, including one officer who

received a Rolex watch.

Another officer is said to have been given expensive gold coins as

a gift to his parents, whom he was going to visit.

Suspicion has also been raised about an immigration officer who was

on assignment in Hong Kong but went home with $300,000 Cdn that he

supposedly won at the races.

Brian McAdam, former immigration control officer at the mission,

who alerted Ottawa to the CAIPS infiltration in 1992, said RCMP have

questioned him about the ``little red packet'' incident.

``I expressed trepidation -- about the invitation to the races --

to my immediate boss, but was told the people inviting us were not

asking for visas to go to Canada,'' he recalled last week in Ottawa.

``When my wife and I arrived at the VIP room at the race track,

Granny Pong, the matriarch of this family, thrust little red

envelopes into our hands, as she did for every other couple,'' he

said.

``This greatly disturbed me because I knew this was an old

technique to bribe people,'' said McAdam, an internationally

renowned expert on triads (the Chinese Mafia), whose reports are

used by various law enforcement agencies.

``When we returned home and opened the envelopes, there was $1,000

HK in each of them,'' he said.

McAdam said he took the issue up with his superiors the next day

and was assured that such a thing would not happen again.

``But I was told I could not return the money because it would be

taken as a great offence,'' he said.

McAdam sent the cash to the Save the Children Fund, saying it was

courtesy of Granny Pong, and gave his boss a copy of the letter

accompanying the donation.

One of the series of RCMP investigators looking into the

allegations of improprieties at the diplomatic mission made

inquiries into the incident outlined by McAdam.

Documents show that he was told by a senior official at the

commission that the money was collected back from all those who

received it and returned to Granny Pong.

Cpl. Robert Read of the RCMP's immigration and passport section,

who took over the Hong Kong file in September 1996, confirmed that

he was investigating the red-packet incident when he was removed

from the case.

Read, who found gaping holes in earlier investigations and became

suspicious about the lack of follow-up to leads given to some

investigators, suspects that the RCMP is perpetuating a coverup of

some of the incidents that went on at the diplomatic mission.

He has filed an obstruction-of-justice complaint against some of

his senior officers.

Read refused to divulge what he found but has forwarded his files

to the federal auditor-general's department.

Cash in red packets, according to sources familiar with the custom,

is an old Chinese tradition practised during the Lunar New Year and

other auspicious occasions.

However, it is not unknown for criminals to have adapted the custom

to their own ends.

The unanswered question, according to McAdam's report on this

incident filed to an assistant deputy minister in the department of

external affairs, is: ``Why would multimillionaires constantly

invite all newcomers from the Canadian mission's immigration

section, as well as locally engaged staff, to the horse races and

give them thousands of dollars?''

Title: Mountie suspended in consulate probe

Byline: For the Calgary Herald; The Province

Source: Calgary Herald, September 3, 1999, Final Edition, p.A10

A Mountie has been suspended because he told The Province

newspaper about an investigation into the infiltration of

immigration computers at the Canadian diplomatic mission in Hong

Kong.

The suspension comes after the RCMP offered Cpl. Robert Read an

early retirement package, which he refused.

``I am not surprised . . . I know I have done the right thing,''

Read said from his home in Ottawa Thursday night.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Gilles Moreau said Read was suspended with pay

on Wednesday afternoon. He said Read, 54, is being investigated in

connection with the Hong Kong incident and ``how certain information

pertaining to the criminal investigation into the Canadian

consulate-general found its way into the public domain.''

Moreau said a separate investigation into whether Read has

committed any criminal offence had been launched.

Read, a 24-year veteran of the force, was attached to the RCMP

immigration and passport section in Ottawa. Last week, he told The

Province he had filed an obstruction-of-justice complaint against

his superiors, alleging the RCMP were perpetuating a coverup of

penetration of the immigration computer at the commission (now

consulate-general) in Hong Kong.

The alleged infiltration of the computers was discovered by

then-immigration control officer Brian McAdam, an expert on triads,

or Chinese Mafia. McAdam alerted Ottawa, but the investigation was

stopped shortly after it started in 1992 because of a lack of

evidence.

Title: Mountie accuses RCMP of a coverup

Source: The Province (Vancouver), August 26, 1999, Final Edition, p.A3

Robert Read, who became the fourth Mountie assigned to

investigate the Hong Kong affair, says he has been "ostracized"

because of his work.

In 1996, his boss, Insp. Jean Dube, assigned him to interview Brian

McAdam, the former immigration control officer at the Canadian

commission in Hong Kong.

"After reviewing the earlier investigations, it became quickly

clear that something was amiss," he told The Province. He declined

to provide details of his report because it remains classified.

Married with two children, Read, 54, joined the RCMP in 1975 after

10 years with Regina city police. After stints in Burnaby and

Quebec, he was transferred to the RCMP war crimes/immigration and

passport section in Ottawa.

Read said a summary of his original report prepared for the RCMP

commissioner was "camouflage." He wrote another report and submitted

it to the top brass.

"I got no response . . . instead I was taken off the case and

assigned a paper-shuffling job . . . I have been ostracized for

doing what I think is in the best interest of Canadians," he said.

Read submitted his findings and allegations to the RCMP public

complaints commission. The commission said it was unable to look at

the case, citing among other things the sensitive nature of the

"ongoing investigations."

Read then sent his files to the federal auditor-general's

department and the office of the solicitor-general. Peter Sorby from

the auditor-general's office is now investigating the case.

Brian McAdam is a recognized authority on triads. He has worked for

the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, the FBI and other

law enforcement agencies.

His report entitled Triad Guide, co-authored with RCMP Insp. Garry

Clement, is considered one of the best on the Chinese underworld.

But the 57-year-old former external-affairs employee could not get

his bosses to use his material. The report is banned from

distribution within external affairs and Immigration Canada for

legal reasons.

"I am not a whistle-blower," says McAdam, who served at the

Canadian commission in Hong Kong for two terms.

"What I tried to do was alert my superiors to the criminal

goings-on during the height of the largest modern immigration wave .

. . we had thousands of people from Hong Kong wanting to leave prior

to the 1997 handover."

Ridiculed, ostracized and called anti-social, McAdam quit the

foreign service a few years ago after a severe bout of depression.

"Some of the RCMP officers who investigated my reports have done a

marvellous job, and there is enough evidence to show that there is a

coverup," he said.

"The word is I am crazy, but my reports speak for themselves,"

McAdam said.

Title: RCMP may have `botched' Hong Kong probe

Source: Times Colonist (Victoria), September 9, 1999, Final Edition, p.A8

TORONTO -- A senior RCMP investigator says the Mounties may

have botched a probe into allegations that officials at Canada's

High Commission in Hong Kong were bribed to approve visas for

Chinese gang members, the Globe and Mail reported Wednesday.

Staff-Sgt. Jim Puchniak, who is now head of federal enforcement for

the RCMP in Ottawa, says the Mounties weren't aggressive enough in

investigating the allegations.

Puchniak, a 30-year veteran, was one of six investigators to look

into the claims made by then immigration officer Brian McAdam in the

last eight years.

``Perhaps we (the RCMP) didn't look at his allegations soon enough

or aggressively enough,'' Puchniak told the Globe.

McAdam, who served in Hong Kong from 1989 to 1993, has alleged

Canadian officials were bribed by gangs so they could obtain visas

allowing them to move in and out of Canada.

He also alleged the 800 files on criminals in the High Commission's

computer system were deleted so gang members could enter the country

and that scores of migrants were smuggled into the Canada.

McAdam, who retired in 1995, took his allegations to Liberal MP

David Kilgour who in turn wrote to Prime Minister Jean Chretien

urging a judicial inquiry.

Francoise Ducros, a spokeswoman for Chretien, said the information

was passed on to the minister of immigration and the prime minister

``felt that appropriate actions would be taken.''

An RCMP media relations officer dismissed claims the Mounties

didn't move quickly enough.

``Up till now we have not found any concrete evidence to support

these allegations,'' Cpl. Gilles Moreau said.

Canadian diplomatic sources told the Globe that McAdam's

allegations are outlandish and cannot be corroborated.

But Puchniak scoffs at the criticism.

``I think a lot of people would like to have Brian McAdam written

off, to be honest with you.

``I think there is enough (there) to warrant looking at it

closer.''

Puchniak was assigned to the case in 1994 but was promoted a year

later and left the investigation.

His comments come days after RCMP Cpl. Robert Read was suspended

after claiming the computer security breach was covered up by the

force.

Title: Fraud began 40 years ago at consulate, ex-official says:

Officers charge cover-up after RCMP probe

Byline: Tim Harper

Source: The Toronto Star, September 3, 1999, First Edition

OTTAWA - There are fresh allegations that file-tampering and

fraud at the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong have been rampant

for more than four decades with no effort made to staunch the

tide of criminals flowing into this country.

The man who headed a four-year probe into immigration fraud at

the consulate from 1959-62, said the latest round of allegations

shows ``nothing has changed.

``The situation is identical,'' Kim Abbott, a retired director of

Immigration Canada's inspection services, said yesterday. Abbott

said the criminal flow from Asia, with the co-operation of

Canadian employees of consulates, likely dates back to 1910.

``The system has always worked well for Chinese agents. It's very

complex. But why would they give up a good thing like that?'' he

said.

Abbott, who now lives in the Ottawa Valley, was commenting on

charges from two officials who say the RCMP conducted a slipshod

probe into the most recent round of allegations, stemming from

the 1986-92 period.

RCMP Corporal Robert Read and Brian McAdam, the immigration

control officer at the consulate from 1991-93, both say a probe

into widespread file-tampering was superficial and a report filed

on it purposely vague.

The RCMP informed Read last night that he had been suspended

pending an investigation into the release of internal documents.

The two men say nearly 800 computer files of prospective

immigrants were tampered with to conceal criminal backgrounds and

that some 2,000 blank visa forms went missing during the same

period.

Specifically, they say locally hired staff at the Hong Kong

mission were paid large sums of money to delete the background

files of persons from the computer system to expunge any

reference to their links with organized crime and allow them to

obtain visas to travel to Canada.

The RCMP said it is continuing to investigate.

Title: Mountie vows to keep fighting over visa frauds: Won't `go away'

despite suspension for talking to press

Byline: Tim Harper

Source: The Toronto Star, September 4, 1999, First Edition

OTTAWA - The Mountie suspended for going public with his

allegations about immigration fraud in Hong Kong says he will not

slink away but will insist on a formal hearing into his case.

``I'm not going to accept a slap on the wrist, hang my head and

go away,'' Corporal Robert Read said yesterday, after the RCMP

suspended him for ``disgraceful conduct.''

He will be paid, pending the results of an inquiry into how

confidential documents dealing with the RCMP probe ended up with

the media.

The documents were also shared with Brian McAdam, the immigration

control officer at the Canadian consulate from 1991 to 1993.

McAdam probed file-tampering and computer fraud during that

period and he and Read contend nearly 800 computer files of

prospective immigrants were fiddled with to conceal criminal

backgrounds.

They also alleged some 2,000 blank visa forms went missing during

the same period.

The RCMP says a probe into the charges continues but an internal

inquiry is also under way to find out how documents became

public.

Read says RCMP investigators have been slipshod, which has

allowed those people with links to Hong Kong organized crime to

enter this country.

Instead of seeking the truth, the RCMP became more preoccupied

with trying to discredit him, Read said. ``I have received notice that I have been suspended for divulging confidential information to the press and to Brian McAdam,'' Read

said yesterday.

``Before going to the press, I took my complaint of criminal RCMP

conduct to the hierarchy of the RCMP.

``I took it to CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service), I

took it to the RCMP Public Complaints Commission and finally I

took it to the auditor-general.

``I was prepared to wait many more months for an investigation

into my complaint. But I was forced to go public when I felt I

was being discredited rather than my complaint being

investigated.''

Other sources have backed Read, indicating irregularities in the

consulate's visa section have been a problem dating back at least

40 years.

Immigration officials, however, contend they have been quietly

doing their job, and some 1,000 persons linked to organized crime

have either been blocked from entering Canada or deported over

the past five years.

Title: MPs seek probe of visa cover-up

Byline: Fabian Dawson; Staff Reporter

Source: The Province (Vancouver), December 2, 1999, Final Edition, p.A24

Reform MPs are demanding the government appoint a special

prosecutor to investigate allegations that the RCMP is covering up

aspects of a visa scam at the Canadian diplomatic mission in Hong

Kong.

The allegations are being made by RCMP Cpl. Robert Read who has

been suspended for talking to The Province about his Hong Kong

investigation.

Read, a 24-year-veteran police officer is currently being

investigated by the RCMP in connection with the Hong Kong incident

and ``how certain information pertaining to the criminal

investigation into the Canadian consulate-general found its way into

the public domain.''

In Parliament yesterday, Reform MPs from B.C. Jim Abbot and John

Reynolds urged Solicitor-General Lawrence MacAulay to appoint an

independent prosecutor to look at the case as some of the people who

Read has accused are investigating him.

``Read has been told he is being suspended for repeating his

allegations in The Province this summer, yet the RCMP still has not

investigated the cover-up,'' Abbot said in the House of Commons.

MacAulay said it is up to the RCMP to decide what measures are to

be taken.

He then suggested that the issue be referred to the RCMP Public

Complaints Commission, unaware that Read had already taken it to

that body and was told that his case was beyond their purview.

``Obviously the solicitor-general does not know what he is talking

about,'' said Abbot.

Reynolds said the RCMP should not be investigating their own,

especially because of the highly sensitive nature of the case and

allegations of wrongdoing by senior RCMP members.

``It's like having the fox guard the chicken coop,'' he said.

Read, contacted at his Ottawa home yesterday, said the only way his

case can get an open and fair hearing is if his complaints are

addressed by an independent commission.

``I have tried three separate government bodies including the

public complaints commission, the auditor-general and CSIS . . . I

don't know where else to go for an independent hearing,'' he said.

``Maybe I should try the federal dog-catcher,'' said Read.

Read, 54, was attached to the RCMP immigration and passport section

in Ottawa. In August he told The Province he had filed an

obstruction-of-justice complaint against his superiors, alleging

that the RCMP were perpetuating a coverup of the penetration of the

immigration computer at the Canadian commission (now

consulate-general) in Hong Kong.

The alleged computer infiltration was initially discovered by

then-immigration control officer Brian McAdam, an internationally

renowned expert on triads, or the Chinese Mafia.

McAdam alerted Ottawa and an investigation was initiated by the

department of external affairs and the RCMP.

The core allegations were that 788 files containing sensitive

background information on businessmen and criminals had been deleted

from the Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS).

The tampering is said to be the work of locally hired staff, linked

to triads, who had given themselves high security clearance.

Another allegation involved the disappearance of about 2,000 blank

visa forms.

In addition, certain immigration staff at the diplomatic mission

were suspected of accepting ``bribes.''

The initial investigation was stopped shortly after it started in

1992 because of a lack of evidence.

Title: 'Whitewash': An RCMP probe into alleged improprieties at the Canadian mission in Hong Kong fails to answer key questions, critics say

Byline: Fabian Dawson; Staff Reporter

Source: The Province (Vancouver), December 23, 1999, Final Edition, p.A6

An influential Chinese family pumped Canadian foreign affairs

staff in Hong Kong with cash to gamble on the race track, an RCMP

probe has shown.

The money, between $150 and $1,000 in each packet, was handed out

by the family's matriarch identified as "Granny Pong" many times at

the Hong Kong race track between 1988 and 1996.

The RCMP, however, are expected to say that they cannot prove that

the family or their connections in Hong Kong got anything in return

for the cash.

The finding is contained in a report on allegations of corruption

at the Canadian diplomatic mission in Hong Kong, scheduled for

release by the RCMP today in Ottawa.

Sources told The Province that RCMP officers interviewed about 30

current and former staff at the mission discovering that "some had

returned the money, others had given it to charity while some

gambled it all away."

In addition, the RCMP probe also acknowledged that certain senior

members of the mission met with high-ranking suspected criminals and

triad members in public places.

But again, they are unable to show any criminal wrongdoing, despite

the relationships.

RCMP are expected to recommend both issues be dealt with in a code

of conduct for staff at Canadian diplomatic missions overseas.

The probe into the affairs in Hong Kong was triggered by former

Canadian Immigration control officer Brian McAdam, an

internationally renowned expert on the Chinese Mafia.

His allegations were investigated by a series of RCMP officers

beginning in 1992.

Last August, one of the RCMP officers, Cpl. Robert Read, found

substantive new information on the case.

He was suspended from the force after alleging that the RCMP were

trying to cover up the Hong Kong probe.

Other findings by the RCMP to be released today include:

- They have no evidence to show that 788 files containing sensitive

background information on businessmen and criminals had been deleted

from the Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS) in

Hong Kong.

In addition, there is also no evidence to show some 2,000 blank

visa forms cannot be accounted for, as alleged.

Investigators say the original files disintegrated after being

transferred from one computer system to another.

The investigators adopted the position despite direct evidence from

McAdam about the missing files. He says the files were not backed up

with microfilmed copies as required.

Read also found unauthorized access to the immigration computers.

- A former employee of the Canadian diplomatic mission, whom The

Province tracked down to North Vancouver, has denied she knows

anything about fake immigration stamps found in her desk in Hong

Kong.

Initially the RCMP said they could not find the woman and that she

was in Taiwan.

RCMP also have no evidence to show that the fake stamps were used

for immigration purposes. It was left to answer why a Panama

immigration stamp and two Hong Kong-made Government of Canada stamps

were in the mission.

- They do not have direct evidence to link the principals of one of

Asia's largest immigration consultants, which has brought thousands

of people to Canada, to fake documents and receipts given to them.

At least three victims of the consultants have talked to RCMP and

given them fake receipts.

McAdam said the RCMP has not addressed his concerns about what went

on at the Hong Kong mission during the height of the pre-handover

years.

"Their investigation has been narrow and the RCMP has refused to

look at all the issues," said McAdam.

"If they think this is going to assure the Canadian public about

our immigration system, they had better think again," he said.

Read, when told of the RCMP findings would only say:

"The coverup continues."

THE STORY SO FAR

The story broke last August when The Province reported on a

seven-year RCMP probe into the alleged infiltration of the

immigration computer at the Canadian diplomatic mission in Hong

Kong.

It was said to be the work of local staff with links to the Chinese

Mafia.

It was brought to light by then-immigration control officer Brian

McAdam, who gave several leads to the RCMP.

Among the allegations: deleted files, bogus immigration stamps and

improper high-level security visas.

The RCMP found no wrong-doing but McAdam persisted. He said 788

files with sensitive background information on criminals and and

businessmen had been removed from the computer and that nearly 2,000

blank visa forms were missing.

RCMP reactivated the investigation in 1995 and worked with CSIS,

which launched Operation Sidewinder to look at the extent of Chinese

espionage in this country. That operation was abruptly halted.

Cpl. Robert Read of the RCMP immigration and passport section in

Ottawa was assigned the file in September 1996.

After urging a thorough probe, Read was taken off the case.

Read filed an obstruction-of-justice complaint in January 1998,

charging his superiors with a coverup.

Read was then suspended by the RCMP for talking to The Province. He

is still under investigation.

The Province has also found that one of Asia's largest immigration

consultants were involved in a racket to help people migrate to

Canada using fake papers.

The consultants seemed to have a contact at Canada's mission in

Hong Kong.