Interpreter for refugees faces fraud charges

Man is accused of sending impostors, using his identity, to work online hearings

The Immigration and Refugee Board has identified almost 200 cases involving a contracted interpreter, who is facing fraud-related charges for allegedly dispatching unauthorized individuals to do the work on his behalf at virtual hearings.

The arrest of a certified interpreter in Kiswahili/Swahili, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi has raised privacy concerns for vulnerable asylum seekers as the board has transitioned increasingly to online hearings since the early days of the pandemic.

“I, like a lot of lawyers, have had a lot of hearings during COVID,” said Toronto lawyer Joel Sandaluk, who was recently informed that two of his cases could be reopened as a result. “I have won cases. I have lost cases. Knowing now that there was this gaping hole in the integrity of the system is incredibly alarming.

“I’ve had many clients over the years who were deeply concerned about the details of their asylum claims being leaked back to their foreign governments. I have always told people that they should not be concerned about this, now it appears that I may have been mistaken.”

The refugee board said that in December, it identified an unauthorized interpreter appearing at a hearing using Gerard Byamungu’s identity and immediately halted the proceeding before launching an internal investigation and notifying police.

Last month, Gerard Byamungu, 37, of Durham Region, was charged with fraud/breach of trust by official; fraud not exceeding $5,000; fraud exceeding $5,000; and possession of property or things obtained by crime exceeding $5,000.

The offences allegedly were committed during online remote refugee board hearings between June 1, 2020, and Dec. 14, 2022.

Byamungu was accused of receiving payment for the fraudulent interpretation and translation services provided to the board by the impostors, police claimed.

The type of misconduct being alleged “is unprecedented at the IRB and is simply unacceptable,” said the board’s spokesperson, Anna Pape.

Pape said Byamungu has been scheduled for about 310 hearings since November 2014, and added that a review of the recordings identified 193 cases where an unauthorized interpreter may have been present, including 178 supposedly private proceedings and 15 that were public.

All refugee hearings are private because of the need to protect the identity of the subjects.

“The bigger concern or the more interesting concern is that the refugee board doesn’t know who was interpreting the hearing and that person is under no obligation to keep that matter private and secret,” said Sandaluk.

“I’ve done a lot of hearings over the years of clients who are very worried about information getting back. Sometimes it’s because it’s a claim based on sexual orientation. If somebody is from a very small, insular community in Toronto, there’s only so many interpreters who were available.”

The refugee board said it has since ceased all use of the interpreter’s services. In addition to the internal investigation, a third-party audit was conducted to review the quality of the interpretation services provided. So far, no quality concerns have been identified.

Officials have contacted all affected parties to provide them with an opportunity to have their cases reopened should they so wish. In some cases, the board has shared the information with the Canada Border Services Agency, the immigration department and the legal counsel of record.

Additional measures have been implemented to verify the identities of interpreters at the time of the hearing, including issuing new IRB identification cards.

Of the 178 cases that involved a privacy breach, the board said 111 have received positive decisions and been afforded refugee protection in Canada. The claimants have been notified of the privacy breach.

“The notifications also indicate that we have not found any evidence that these files were specifically targeted or that the interpreter or his unauthorized representative were acting on behalf of any outside party,” Pape noted.

The refugee board had resorted to remote hearings for some cases before the pandemic in 2020, but Sandaluk said interpreters were required to show up at a board office.

“The protocol (now) is you are asked to state your name for the record and that’s the end of it,” he said. “I would not be able to recognize one interpreter from another because my only interaction with an interpreter is during the course of the hearing itself. I don’t see them before and I don’t see them after.”

In light of the incident, Sandaluk said the board should require interpreters to show up in person again and work out of its office.

The IRB has about 1,200 contracted interpreters for more than 250 languages and dialects. Interpreters must undergo multiple tests as well as government security screening, identity verification, a credit check and a criminal record check before they are accredited.