Date: 20010726
Docket: IMM-4248-00
Neutral citation: 2001 FCT 834
BETWEEN:
MARC PANDI BAPAGA
Applicant
-and-
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
[1] These written reasons confirm those given orally yesterday when dismissing this judicial review application by Marc Pandi Bapaga, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo whose refugee claim was rejected by the Refugee Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (the "Tribunal") on July 18, 2000. He claimed that from May 1997 to June 1998 he was locked up in prison, tortured and sexually assaulted. The source of his fear of return is based on imputed political opinion and being the son of a high ranking official of the Mobutu Government. His father, he says, was an ambassador and later a Commissaire d'Etat.
[2] The Tribunal was not satisfied, on a balance of probabilities, as to the applicant's identity or the credibility of his alleged account of the event giving rise to his claim.
[3] I am satisfied the Tribunal's findings both on credibility and on identity are sound and are based on the evidence.
[4] To establish his identity the applicant relied on a diplomatic passport which he did not refer to in his PIF, which had been altered (confirmed by the RCMP), whose photograph as a young child the Tribunal was not satisfied was of him and which stated his father was dead and contradicts his oral testimony.
[5] The Tribunal was not satisfied the applicant had returned to Zaire from South Africa in 1996 because his passport did not contain an exit stamp which the South African authorities confirmed would be shown if he had left. The Tribunal was justified, in my view, to disbelieve the applicant had been persecuted from May of 1997 to June 1998.
[6] These findings which are unimpeachable go at the heart of the applicant's story and the Tribunal's finding.
"François Lemieux"
J.F.C.C.
Toronto, Ontario
July 26, 2001
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
DOCKET: IMM-4248-00
STYLE OF CAUSE: MARC PANDI BAPAGA
Applicant
-and-
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
DATE OF HEARING: WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2001
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER BY: LEMIEUX J.
DATED: THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2001
APPEARANCES: Mr. David Yerzy
For the Applicant
Mr. Kevin Lunney
For the Respondent
SOLICITORS OF RECORD: David P. Yerzy
Barrister & Solicitor
14 Prince Arthur Ave. #108
Toronto, Ontario
M5R 1A9
For the Applicant
Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
For the Respondent
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
Date: 20010726
Docket: IMM-4248-00
BETWEEN:
MARC PANDI BAPAGA
Applicant
-and-
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER
Date: 20010725
Docket: IMM-4248-00
Toronto, Ontario, Wednesday, the 25th day of July, 2001
PRESENT: The Honourable Mr. Justice Lemieux
BETWEEN:
MARC PANDI BAPAGA
Applicant
- and -
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
ORDER
This judicial review application is dismissed for the oral reasons expressed.
"François Lemieux"
J.F.C.C.