The federal government wrapped up its case and presented final arguments on Friday in B.C. Supreme Court
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Former RCMP officer William Majcher was trying to establish his Hong Kong-based company’s reputation for asset recovery work by repatriating a man wanted by China for massive fraud, a prosecutor told his trial trial on Friday.
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Majcher said in emails written in 2017 that he and his partner had plans to expand their company to carry out such work, according to federal prosecutor Ryan Carrier.
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After presenting evidence from a handful of witnesses earlier in the week, Carrier summed up the case against Majcher in his closing.
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Carrier told court on Friday the evidence shows that Majcher violated Canada’s Security of Information Act by taking “preparatory steps” to persuade or threaten Hongwei (Kevin) Sun to return to China with $124 million that China accused him of stealing from the bank where he used to work.
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Majcher is being tried on one count of preparing to force Sun, a Canadian permanent resident since 2001, to return to China while working for or with Beijing, contrary to Canada’s constitutional rights and principles, Carrier told the B.C. Supreme Court trial.
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Majcher has pleaded not guilty.
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His lawyer, Ian Donaldson, who called no witnesses and presented no evidence during the trial, will deliver his closing arguments on Monday.
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Carrier said the evidence showed that Majcher “engaged in conduct to induce a permanent resident of Canada to acquiesce to the demands of the PRC (People’s Republic of China) government.”
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Reading from an email that Majcher wrote to his colleague and former FBI agent, Ross Gaffney, in June 2017 about plans to repatriate Sun to China, Carrier said Majcher said he “intended to use the threat of arrest and extradition to the PRC to impress upon the, quote, crook that we hold the keys to his future, end quote.”
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Majcher and Gaffney ran a company in Hong Kong called Evaluate Monitor Investigate Deter Recover, or EMIDR, which specialized in investigating and documenting cyber and financial crimes and carrying out asset recovery.
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Majcher said in the email, “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 Chinese warrant for his arrest.
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“Mr. Majcher took steps to use the spectre of PRC criminal pursuit and criminal proceedings as the means to induce the permanent resident of Canada to acquiesce to the demands of a foreign government,” he said.
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Helping a foreign government target a Canadian wanted by Chinese police “was an affront to Canadian sovereignty” and posed a threat to Sun, a Canadian resident, Carrier said.
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Majcher was charged under the section of the Security of Information Act that makes it illegal to prepare to carry out the offences, even if they aren’t completed.
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In a series of emails, Majcher, who specialized in money laundering crimes and undercover operations while with the RCMP, said that the Chinese government had asked him to train police officers in international financial crime and “covert methodologies,” Carrier said.
