Feds say there's been 27 corruption reports at Canadian visa offices since 2016

The Immigration department noted that five reports of bribery were investigated against local staff, although Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) did not provide details of the country the investigations took place in.

The data about the corruption allegations against local nationals working in immigration offices on for the Government of Canada was made public through an inquiry of ministry posed by Green Party MP for Kitchener Centre, Mike Morrice.

The response to the inquiry notes:

IRCC has received 27 reports of corruption or bribery committed by locally engaged staff since 2016. This is the total number of reports. Due to the small number of investigated allegations, data is not further broken down by office due to safety and privacy concerns. Twenty-one did not require an investigation and one is ongoing.

Five were investigated, of which two were rejected because they were not founded and three were resolved.

The government would not say if the corruption took place on Canadian soil, but explained that the worst the employee may face was firing.

"Depending on the severity of the infraction, if the allegations are founded, discipline can range from an oral reprimand up to and including termination of employment," the government responded.

Details of the level of corruption, the roles of the employees in involved in the schemes and the results of so-called "resolved" investigations were also not made available to the House of Commons.

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