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The priest, Abhay Dev Sharma, testified that it was the victim who had asked him for $50,000, and that he didn’t even know about the charges when he met with her.

He wanted to explore whether or not the complainant was open to taking a payment

But Justice Jennifer Woollcombe said in a written decision those statements were “incredible,” and had little doubt about what really happened.

“He is the one who instigated the meeting, clearly prepared to discuss payment to the complainant,” wrote Woollcombe. “It seems to me that the only conclusion to reach from his evidence is that he wanted to explore whether or not the complainant was open to taking a payment to make the charges go away.

One might “reasonably suspect” that Sharma had something to do with the priest’s offer, but there was no evidence to that effect so the incident could not be used against the accused, the judge said.

Dev Sharma, the priest, denied in a brief interview Friday that he had offered any money to the complainant, but said his English proficiency was too poor to discuss the case in detail.

A spokesman for Peel Region Police said Friday that officers have not investigated whether the man’s alleged attempts to silence the witness violated any laws.

Steven Skurka, Parveen Sharma’s lawyer, said his client will be appealing after mounting a “vigorous” defence to the sexual assault charges, and was released on bail Friday pending the appeal.

A spokesman for the temple could not be reached for comment.

According to the ruling — which was issued in February but only came to light this week — the victim in the case rented a basement apartment from Sharma in August 2015, having met him at the Hindu Sabha temple, where he was president. He, his wife and their 26-year-old son lived upstairs.