More on Canadian chief judge's case

The Globe & Mail's report by Lars Hagberg on the charges against Canada's chief military judge adds some details to yesterday's breaking news:

The charges relate to allegations that [Chief Military Judge Mario] Dutil engaged in an inappropriate personal relationship with a subordinate, and that he knowingly signed a travel claim containing false information, according to a military spokesman.

While none of the charges have been proven in court, the very fact that they were laid had officials throughout the Department of National Defence scrambling to understand the potential impacts – and how the case would proceed.

Military police first started investigating Dutil in November 2015 after receiving a complaint that he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, according to spokesman Maj. Jean-Marc Mercier.

The alleged relationship is believed to have lasted from November 2014 to October 2015 and while consensual, was not permitted under military regulations, Mercier said.

It was during the course of their investigation into that relationship, Mercier said, that military police uncovered evidence to suggest Dutil knowingly signed a travel claim containing false information in September 2015.

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This isn't the first time that Dutil, who took over his current role in 2006, has been accused of violating the military's rules on personal relationships.

But a special committee of three judges dismissed a complaint in April 2016 on the basis that it did not have any impact on Dutil's conduct as a judge. Military police did not lay any charges at that time.

The power to appoint or remove a chief military judge is vested in the cabinet.