B.C. judge says former Mountie is not guilty in Chinese security case

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has found former Mountie William Majcher not guilty of acting on behalf of China’s government in a plan to coerce a multimillionaire to return there to face fraud charges.

Justice Martha Devlin said Wednesday that she had doubt about the nature and extent of Majcher’s actions and the Crown had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed any of the alleged acts.

The Crown had accused the former RCMP officer of acting as a “proxy” for Chinese authorities as he prepared to convince the Canadian resident to return to China in 2017.

He was accused of one count of committing preparatory acts to commit an offence under Canada’s Security of Information Act.

Devlin said she couldn’t find evidence that such preparatory steps took place.

“Clearly, the language of section 22 of the (Security of Information Act) requires not only an intention to prepare to commit an offence, but also something to actually be done in preparation for the offence.”

Majcher’s lawyer, Ian Donaldson, said in closing remarks last month that the Crown’s case against his client was “purely circumstantial.”

Donaldson said there was no proof his client was targeting Vancouver real estate mogul Kevin Sun, based on an email that the Crown said was a central piece of evidence.

Devlin said that even assuming Majcher did speak to Chinese police about inducements they might offer Sun to return to China, “I cannot find, based on the evidentiary record before me, that Mr. Majcher specifically did so with a view to preparing for the commission of offence.”

The trial revealed details of RCMP co-operation with Chinese police, and how three Chinese police officials allegedly went “missing” for six hours during an RCMP-escorted visit to Vancouver in 2018 — setting off concerns they could be trying to illicitly repatriate someone.

By Darryl Greer