The RCMP has laid charges against an immigration judge accused of offering to assist a South Korean woman with her refugee claim in exchange for sexual favours.

Steven Ellis, a 47-year-old Toronto adjudicator, has been charged with breach of trust, knowingly making or issuing a false document or statement, or accepting or agreeing to accept a bribe or other benefit in respect to a refugee application.

CTV News broke the story last week, after being provided with videotapes.

The woman, known publicly only as Kim, and her Canadian boyfriend secretly videotaped a conversation that took place at a downtown Toronto coffee shop.

Ellis has been suspended from his job and is freed on $100,000 bail. He must remain in Ontario and avoid any contact with Kim or her boyfriend.

The man in the tape, whom the couple alleges is Ellis, appears to offer to help approve the woman's application if she agrees to have an affair with him. The man warns her not to tell her boyfriend.

"He said he would give me refugee status if I became his friend," Kim told CTV News.

The couple sent a copy of the tape to CTV News earlier this month, as well as to Jean Guy Fleury, chairman of the Immigration and Refuge Board. Fleury then suspended Ellis, banned him from IRB property and passed the information on to the RCMP.

In this taped conversation, a man alleged to be Ellis asked Kim not to tell anyone about his offer to help her.

"If we do this and it's shown I did this for improper purposes, then you are screwed too," the man warned her. "We are both screwed. I'm in big trouble and your status is gone."

Fleury said he had no tolerance for corruption within the IRB.

"Canadians have a right to demand that the IRB's processes are conducted in an ethical and fair manner. There is no tolerance for abuse of any kind in this institution."

The video appears to show Ellis meeting with Kim outside of his chambers. He brought her confidential case file along.

"Let me see what I can do. I'm going to work on it. I really want to be friends with you," he allegedly told her.

The man in the video tells Kim he had planned to deport her but had second thoughts.

"The initial (decision) was no, but now that I know you, I'm not going to be able to sleep if I say no. I won't be able to sleep," the man on the tape said.

Ellis, a former two-term Toronto city councilor, allegedly sought Kim out on two separate occasions after first hearing her case in July.

"I had no choice. When he asked me for the coffee, I had to meet him. I was afraid he would say no, deny my case," Kim said.

The allegations of sexual misconduct are believed to be the first of their kind involving an IRB judge since the board was created in 1989. Annual statistics of complaints against IRB members are not available.

Ellis's lawyer, Toomas Ounapuu, says he hasn't viewed the tape yet but may challenge its legality.

"The way it was obtained" may be suspect, he said. "I don't know how it was obtained."

The Immigration and Refugee Board won't say whether there are other women who have come forward with similar allegations against Ellis.

But the NDP says all of Ellis' refugee cases need to be reviewed.

"Well, it is totally possible that this may not be the only incident," said NDP MP Olivia Chow.

Ellis, who was appointed to the IRB in 2000, has adjudicated 1,279 refugee claims during his career at the IRB.

Ellis was a Liberal political appointee, a practice critics say the Conservative government needs to end.

"Members of the Immigration and Refugee Board need to be appointed strictly on the basis of merit," said veteran Toronto immigration lawyer Sergio Karas, speaking for the Ontario Bar Association spokesman.

The Immigration and Refugee board has long been a "dumping ground for political appointees and has been for decades," said CTV's Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife.

"The way around this, critics say, is to appoint lawyers and specialists in immigration law and give them the same kind of tenure as federal judges."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper did promise during the election campaign to end political patronage, noted Fife. But "now, he's in government and everybody's waiting for appointments -- and he's starting to give a lot of political appointments to Tory friends."