Bob Mackin
A key email sent by Bill Majcher to a colleague in June 2017 failed to prove that the former RCMP inspector prepared to induce a real estate tycoon to submit to the demands of the Chinese government.
Bill Majcher (IPI)
“Ultimately, I conclude that is simply too far a leap to suggest, based on select sentences in one email chain — which are reasonably capable of supporting exculpatory interpretations — that Mr. Majcher had engaged in positive acts or steps with the requisite specific intent of doing so for the purpose of preparing for the commission of an offence,” Justice Martha Devlin concluded on May 13.
Majcher’s Hong Kong-based asset recovery consultancy was hired to help China recover ill-gotten gains, which led to the charge under the Security of Information Act.
The Chinese government accused real estate mogul Hongwei (Kevin) Sun of a 2.9 billion renminbi (CAD$579.5 million) fraud in northeastern Jilin province against state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. China believed Sun took more than $100 million with him to Metro Vancouver. The Crown said Majcher was engaged in efforts to coerce Sun to comply with the Chinese government’s demands.
Sun denied the allegations and did not co-operate when Chinese police visited B.C.
In the June 12, 2017 email that was crucial to the Crown’s case, Majcher explained to his friend and colleague Ross Gaffney, a former FBI special agent in Florida, that a successful completion on the Sun project could lead to a master agreement with the Chinese government to handle more overseas financial investigations.
“The conduct which Mr. Majcher describes in his communication with Mr. Gaffney is capable of supporting reasonable interpretations and inferences entirely inconsistent with his guilt,” Devlin explained. “In particular, the thrust of the evidence relating to Mr. Majcher’s general background and business dealings indicates a focus on economic crime and asset recovery services, which, on their face, appear to be aimed at entirely lawful objectives.”
FaceTime
Additionally, Devlin said testimony of Majcher’s January 2019 FaceTime call with another former colleague, Peter German, also gave her reasonable doubt.
“At a minimum, the fact that Mr. Majcher openly described his relationship to the PRC with a former deputy commissioner of the RCMP supports a reasonable inference alternative to guilt,” Devlin said. “As a matter of logic, common sense and human experience, I find it at least reasonable to infer that Mr. Majcher would not direct the attention of a former high-ranking law enforcement official towards his activities with the PRC, if Mr. Majcher intended and understood those activities to be aimed at unlawful, extortive conduct.”
The trial began April 20 when Majcher pleaded not guilty, but the proceedings were already under a cloud. In March, Devlin ruled that the RCMP violated Majcher’s constitutional rights with a warrantless arrest at Vancouver International Airport in July 2023.
The Crown closed its case early on April 22. The defence did not present any evidence and Majcher chose not to testify.
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