The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal by an RCMP officer who was fired after blowing the whistle on an alleged coverup of corruption at the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong.

As is normal in leave-to-appeal cases, the top court gave no reasons for its decision.

The RCMP adjudication board ruled in 2002 that Cpl. Robert Read, a 26-year veteran of the force, was guilty of disgraceful conduct to publicly complain that his superiors had hampered his investigation. He was ordered to resign or be fired.

Read was investigating allegations that staff members at the consulate had been selling phoney visas to Asian Triad gangs. Those allegations first surfaced in 1992.

In going public through the media in 1999, Read accused his bosses of a coverup and demanded a public inquiry into the way the RCMP handled the Hong Kong case.

Read has said he never wanted to take his story to the media or pick a fight with the RCMP, but going public was a last resort after two years of frustration.

The RCMP's external review committee ruled Read was justified in his actions and ordered him reinstated. But Tim Killam, then RCMP assistant commissioner, concluded that Read had breached his duty of loyalty to the Mounties and upheld the dismissal.

In 2005, a Federal Court judge dismissed Read's application for judicial review of the assistant commissioner's decision. The Federal Court of Appeal also dismissed the appeal last fall.

With files from the Canadian Press