OTTAWA, Feb 23, 2010 (AFP) – A Canadian court was to hear a tape recording Tuesday of a former immigration judge who is alleged to have sought sex from a South Korean woman in exchange for granting her asylum, court officials said.

Former Immigration and Refugee Board judge Steve Ellis, 50, has pleaded not guilty to charges of breach of trust and bribery in relation to the refugee application.

Prosecutors allege Ellis told Ji-Hye Kim he would deny her refugee claim in September 2006 unless the then 25-year-old slept with him.

She met him at a Toronto coffee shop to discuss her case, and was allegedly told he would reverse his denial of her claim if she agreed to an “intimate relationship,” the Crown said.

At the start of the trial on Monday, the prosecution read excerpts of their conversation, which was secretly recorded by Kim and her boyfriend. The audio and video recordings were to be played for the court yesterday, said court officials.

“Let me see what I can do. I’m going to work on it. I really want to be friends with you,” prosecutor Lynda Trefler quoted Ellis as saying in the recordings, according to local media.

“You’ve got a boyfriend. I’ve got a wife,” Trefler said he said. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to be demanding. 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.”

Before being appointed as an immigration judge, Ellis was a Toronto city councillor from 1991 to 1997.

Kim was seeking asylum in Canada from an abusive father and threats from money lenders in her home country of South Korea.