Retired RCMP officer acquitted in alleged repatriation plot with China

VANCOUVER — A BC Supreme Court judge has acquitted retired RCMP inspector William Robert “Bill” Majcher of a charge under Canada’s Security of Information Act, ruling the Crown failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.Justice Martha Devlin delivered her reasons orally Wednesday morning in Vancouver. Before beginning, she asked those in the courtroom to stay focused and limit any chatter in the public gallery so she could concentrate on reading her lengthy judgment without distraction.She stressed that Majcher is presumed innocent and that the burden rests entirely on the Crown to prove every element of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt.In plain terms, the Crown was required to prove both the guilty act and the guilty mind. The guilty act meant showing that Majcher actually took concrete steps specifically directed toward or in preparation for trying to coerce or threaten Kevin Sun on behalf of China in a way that would harm Canadian interests. The guilty mind required proof that Majcher had the strict criminal intent demanded by the law when he did so. She found the Crown’s evidence — centred primarily on a single June 12, 2017 email Majcher sent to a former colleague — did not prove either element beyond a reasonable doubt.Majcher, who served with the RCMP from 1985 to 2007 specializing in undercover operations and economic-crime investigations including money laundering, retired to Hong Kong. There he founded a corporate-risk and asset-recovery firm that specialized in helping clients, including Chinese entities, recover overseas assets..The Crown had alleged that i 2017 Majcher, acting at the behest of or in association with Chinese authorities, took preparatory steps toward coercing or extorting Hongwei “Kevin” Sun — a Vancouver-area real-estate investor and permanent resident of Canada who is wanted in China on allegations of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from a Chinese bank.Prosecutors said the goal was to induce Sun to return to China or otherwise co-operate with Beijing’s anti-corruption and so-called “repatriation efforts.” The alleged conduct was described by the Crown as an “affront to Canadian sovereignty” and an end-run around Canadian law.Central to the Crown’s case was a June 2017 email Majcher sent to a former colleague. In it he referred to an unnamed “fraudster” — identified by prosecutors as Sun — and stated that the individual had become a major real-estate mogul in Vancouver with more than $100 million in located assets.Majcher wrote that Chinese police had opened a task force and were prepared to issue a “global arrest warrant,” adding that he hoped to obtain a copy of the warrant “so we can impress upon the crook that we hold the keys to his future.” .Majcher was arrested at Vancouver International Airport in 2023. Pre-trial rulings by Justice Devlin found the warrantless arrest unconstitutional, describing the grounds as amounting to “nothing more than suspicion, speculation, hypotheses, and guesswork.” Certain evidence was excluded or narrowed as a result.Although Majcher walked away Wednesday as a free man, the trial revealed new information, and concerns, about alleged Chinese activities targeting Canadian residents.Court documents filed at the trial revealed that at least 25 Canadian residents were targeted by Chinese police under similar anti-corruption programs.The affidavit further showed Chinese nationals may have been forced to return to their homeland against their will to face punishment for alleged financial crimes — with punishments ranging from imprisonment to the death penalty..In a related development Tuesday, NDP MP Jenny Kwan released a letter urging the federal government to disclose the full text of a Memorandum of Understanding on police co-operation signed between the RCMP and China’s Ministry of Public Security in Beijing in January 2026.Kwan said the government’s refusal to release the agreement — despite public statements that it covers transnational crime, cyber fraud, counternarcotics and anti-corruption — threatens Canadian sovereignty and leaves diaspora communities uncertain about how their safety and rights are protected amid Beijing’s history of foreign interference.The judge-alone trial opened April 20 in the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver. Majcher pleaded not guilty. The Crown called limited evidence over roughly two days before abruptly closing its case April 22. The defence called no evidence.

Retired RCMP officer acquitted in alleged repatriation plot with China

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