The defence said Monday the prosecution has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Bill Majcher was taking steps to return a fugitive banker to China
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Former RCMP officer inspector Bill Majcher did nothing criminal when he wrote an email to a colleague about a fugitive that China wanted repatriated, his lawyer told his trial Monday.
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And defence lawyer Ian Donaldson said the prosecution case “purely circumstantial” and not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
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In his closing arguments to B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin, Donaldson argued the prosecutor hadn’t proven his client had the legally required “fixed and settled” intent to commit the offence he’s accused of under the Security of Information Act.
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Majcher pleaded not guilty to the charge of taking “preparatory acts” — as the offence is worded under the law — to help China return Kevin Sun and his assets to China.
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Sun is accused by China of leaving the country with $124 million stolen from a state bank he used to work for. He arrived in Canada in 2001, became a permanent resident and invested heavily in Vancouver real estate, according to testimony during the trial last week.
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China’s national and state police departments have been trying to have him and the assets returned. Attempts to have the RCMP help them investigate failed in 2017-18 because the RCMP told Chinese police they needed to follow Canadian principles and Charter rights during any interviews, according to earlier RCMP testimony.
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Majcher had a Hong Kong-based company, Evaluate Monitor Investigate Deter Recover, or EMIDR, that billed itself as experts in money laundering, economic fugitives and asset recovery.
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The prosecution evidence included a 2017 email, written in 2017 by Majcher to his colleague, discussing how he, as prosecutor Ryan Carrier read it, “intended to use the threat of arrest and extradition to the (People’s Republic of China) to impress upon the, quote, crook that we hold the keys to his future, end quote.”
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Carrier, also quoting from the email, said Majcher said, “if the target co-operated, quote, we can guarantee him his passport and no jail time, end quote, and if not, quote, there will be extradition,” and a lengthier process.
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Carrier said Majcher was also preparing to tell Sun that there was going to be a Chinese warrant for his arrest, adding that showed Majcher was taking preparatory steps to carry out Chinese police actions on Canadian soil without Canadian arrest safeguards.
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Donaldson, who had brought no evidence on Majcher’s behalf during the trial, said in his closing statement that to find Majcher guilty of the charge, Carrier had to show Majcher had the legally defined mental state of mind to commit the offence.
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He said to find Majcher committed the offence, Devlin had to find beyond reasonable doubt that Majcher actually intended to carry out the actions he wrote about in the email.
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Donaldson said the prosecutor introduced no evidence about whether or not Majcher acted on them and that would be needed to prove Majcher had the necessary intent for a conviction.
