A secret SIM card, a fake name, and one embassy driver paid the price
A government employee's late-night messages to a woman he barely knew triggered a chain of events that ended in a colleague's wrongful arrest overseas, and, eventually, his own firing.
In a decision dated July 10, 2026, Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board member Goretti Fukamusenge upheld Global Affairs Canada's decision to dismiss an information technology employee who had been stationed at the Canadian embassy in Ankara, Turkiye. The board found that his unauthorized use of a government SIM card to pursue a personal relationship, and his shifting account of what happened afterward, justified ending his employment.
The employee worked as a support lead for the embassy's information technology infrastructure, a role that gave him access to a secure storage area where devices used by visiting Canadian delegations were kept. After a Canadian delegation's mission in Turkiye concluded, the SIM card it had purchased for the trip was collected and stored there. In September 2022, the employee took the card for his own use, according to the board's findings.
Using the card, he sent WhatsApp messages to a woman working in Ankara, adopting the pseudonym Pierre Flous to hide his identity. He invited her to dinner. She declined, telling him she had a boyfriend, but he kept pressing, pointing to his financial means, his house and his car. The board found the...
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