Based on coverage from CBC, The Globe and Mail, The Epoch Times, Castanet, and InSauga.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has found former RCMP officer William Majcher not guilty in a closely watched foreign interference case tied to allegations he acted as a stand-in for Chinese authorities pursuing a Vancouver-area real estate investor accused of major fraud in China.
The decision, delivered Wednesday morning in Vancouver by Justice Martha Devlin, turns largely on whether the Crown proved Majcher took real, concrete steps to help prepare an offence, not just whether he talked or wrote about possible plans.
B.C. Supreme Court clears former RCMP officer
Majcher faced one charge under Canada’s Security of Information Act: “engaging in preparatory acts to commit an offence.” Prosecutors alleged that in spring 2017, Majcher acted as a “proxy” for Chinese authorities in a plan to pressure Hongwei (Kevin) Sun, a multimillionaire real estate investor living in Metro Vancouver, to return to China to face fraud allegations.
Majcher pleaded not guilty.
Justice Devlin said she had doubts about the nature and extent of Majcher’s actions, and that the Crown failed to prove the alleged acts beyond a reasonable doubt. She also pointed to the wording of the law itself, saying section 22 requires both an intention to prepare and “something to actually be done” in preparation for the offence. On the evidence before her, she said she could not find that those preparatory steps happened.
Key email evidence and “preparatory acts” test
Multiple reports say the prosecution’s case hinged on an email chain between Majcher and a colleague from April 2017, when Majcher was running an asset recovery firm in Hong Kong after retiring from the RCMP.
In that email, Majcher described a “fraudster” who had become “a major real estate mogul in Vancouver,” claimed “over $100M of assets” had been located, and wrote that “Chinese Police have opened a Task Force” and were standing by to issue a global arrest warrant. He also wrote about wanting a copy of the warrant before it was issued, and about meeting an associate of the target in Hong Kong to try to negotiate a settlement, describing an interest in resolving “economic crimes quietly and expeditiously.”
The Crown argued the “fraudster” was clearly Sun and that the email showed Majcher was helping Chinese officials work around Canadian restrictions that prevented them from directly approaching Sun. Prosecutor Ryan Carrier argued the plan amounted to coercion, telling the judge it was essentially: do this, or face consequences, “an offer that you can’t refuse.” Carrier also argued Majcher could not have been offering outcomes like a passport or no jail time unless he was working with Chinese officials.
Devlin ultimately found the email chain did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Majcher took concrete steps to help Chinese police prepare to coerce Sun.
Defence says Crown relied on circumstantial reading
Majcher’s lawyer, Ian Donaldson, argued the Crown was asking the judge to make a “leap of logic” by pulling a couple of paragraphs from a larger email and reading them in the most incriminating way.
Donaldson’s position was that a reasonable reading is that Majcher was talking about chasing money and pursuing an alleged fraudster’s assets, not laying groundwork for an unlawful coercion campaign. He also described Majcher as prone to hyperbole and said the broader email context supported innocent intent and a business purpose he argued was “in the public interest.”
Devlin said that even if Majcher spoke to Chinese police about inducements they might offer Sun to return, she still could not find on this record that Majcher did so with a view to preparing for the commission of an offence.
Why this foreign interference case mattered in Canada
Majcher’s arrest drew international attention and landed during a period of heightened Canadian concern about alleged Chinese government interference. The trial also aired sensitive details about RCMP co-operation with Chinese police.
One detail raised in coverage: during an RCMP-escorted visit to Vancouver in 2018, three Chinese police officials allegedly went missing for six hours, prompting concerns about whether they could have been attempting an illicit repatriation effort.
The case itself ended with an acquittal, because the judge said the Crown did not meet the high criminal standard required to prove preparatory acts under the Security of Information Act.
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