A refugee board member has been charged by the RCMP after a female claimant alleged that he offered to help her in exchange for sexual favours.

A South Korean woman identified only as Kim and her boyfriend claim they secretly made an audio and video recording of a conversation she had with the board member they identify as Steve Ellis.

Ellis, a Toronto-based member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, is charged with breach of trust and knowingly making or accepting a bribe or other benefit in respect to a refugee application.

He is scheduled to appear at Old City Hall courthouse in Toronto Thursday afternoon for a bail hearing.

The 47-year-old former Toronto city councillor was suspended after the couple sent a copy of the tape to the refugee board chair, Jean-Guy Fleury, who then forwarded the information to the RCMP.

Fleury also banned Ellis from the refugee board's premises and launched an internal review.

Couple records café meeting

Kim claims Ellis dropped by the restaurant where she works several times and asked to meet her for coffee.

'I'm not going to fall in love with you or anything. I just legitimately want to help you.'-Male voice on recording

Because she felt wary about his request, she and her boyfriend, Brad Tripp, decided to surreptitiously tape the meeting at an outdoor café.

Tripp told CBC he videotaped the encounter from across the street while Kim recorded audio from a device in her pocket.

On the audio tape, a man's voice is heard saying, "I know you have a boyfriend and I have a wife, so if we do things together on the side, that's OK, that's fine."

In another portion of the tape, the voice says, "Don't worry. I'm not going to ask you to move in with me or anything like that. I'm not going to fall in love with you or anything. I just legitimately want to help you."

Since Ellis's appointment to the board in 2000, he has adjudicated 1,279 refugee claims.