An Ottawa officer who leaked sensitive police information about an investigation into weapons and heroin smugglers will get to keep his pension after he's kicked off the force.

Const. Harinderpal Mamak, who has been suspended from duty with pay since Dec. 12, 2007, was told Thursday by the Ottawa Police Service that he has seven days to quit the force or face dismissal over his conduct.

In some places — Britain, for example — police who are fired for wrongdoing risk losing their pension, but Mamak will get to keep his, as well as the $200,000 he earned while suspended.

"Quit? Fired? Doesn't matter," said John Pierce, a spokesman for Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, which administers pension funds for most Ontario police departments.

"It's irrelevant to OMERS how a person leaves their job. A clawback of accrued pension benefits is not legal under the Pension Benefits Act."

Mamak was accused of looking up the licence plate of an undercover car used by York regional police in Project Big Al, a surveillance operation aimed at gangsters in Toronto. The suspects were later convicted of smuggling heroin and weapons.

'Quit? Fired? Doesn't matter. It's irrelevant to OMERS how a person leaves their job.' — John Pierce, spokesman for OMERS

An internal police investigation concluded that Mamak illegally used the Canadian Police Information Centre. In September 2009, he was found guilty of breach of confidence and insubordination under the Police Services Act but was never charged with any criminal offences.

Ottawa police acting superintendent Terry Cheslock said Mamak divulged "confidential information relating to an ongoing criminal investigation in the Toronto area" and his actions compromised the safety of investigators from a sister police department.

Many officers are questioning why the police union would support a member who endangered his fellow officers, said Steve Boucher, the head of the Ottawa Police Association.

"These are always difficult cases, and sometimes, it puts our own members at odds with our own members," Boucher said. "But our job as an association is to protect what they have — to protect jobs and to protect benefits they've accrued while they've been here."

Mamak has 30 days to appeal the decision ordering him to quit with the Ontario Civilian Police Commission.

Boucher said the police union will not help him appeal.

"He's requested that we look at an appeal," Boucher said. "But really, that appeal needs to come from the lawyer that he's employed."