Red Deer RCMP officer Eli Ndatuje acquitted of leaking police data to Rwanda

An Alberta RCMP constable accused of illegally searching a police database to help Rwanda’s government has been found not guilty of all charges after a judge-alone trial in Red Deer.

According to CBC News, Justice Jason Wilkins of the Court of King’s Bench on Friday acquitted Eli Ndatuje, 39, of three counts under the Criminal Code and the Security of Information Act. The Crown alleged that in April 2022, while stationed in Red Deer, Ndatuje accessed a police database and passed search results to the High Commission of Rwanda in Ottawa. Ndatuje told investigators he ran a search after a friend at the High Commission raised concern about a missing housekeeper at the Rwandan ambassador’s Ottawa residence, found no missing-person entry, and advised the friend to contact Ottawa Police — denying that he shared any data. Wilkins said an extensive investigation still left reasonable doubt, that he did not find Ndatuje’s intent “nefarious,” and that the officer did not markedly depart from expected conduct. He also noted that none of the wiretap material from the probe was introduced at trial and that he saw no proven link between the search and Ndatuje’s planned family trip to Rwanda.

The Canadian Press, via Global News, reported the investigation was dubbed “Operation Salt Mine” and involved wiretaps plus as many as 30 officers and civilian staff. Ndatuje, born in Uganda to Rwandan refugee parents and a Canadian immigrant from age 13, joined the RCMP in 2018 and was arrested in February 2024. Defence counsel Robb Beeman told court both contacts with the High Commission — one about correcting his wife’s travel documents, one about the housekeeper — were innocent, and that the housekeeper was later found unharmed. Wilkins said the RCMP’s thorough response was understandable given rising foreign-interference concerns, but concluded the resulting evidence was not enough to convict.

Sources: CBC News — RCMP officer Rwanda trial; Global News / Canadian Press.