Federal prosecutors have appealed the high profile acquittal of a former RCMP officer accused of helping China conduct foreign interference in Canada.
A notice of appeal filed late last week asked the B.C. Court of Appeal to overturn the May 13 not guilty verdict and order a new trial for William Majcher.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada argued the judge erred when she dismissed the charge that Majcher was effectively a Chinese government agent.
The Crown’s application, obtained by Global News, argues the judge failed to consider all the evidence, assessed it incorrectly and excluded expert evidence.
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Majcher is one of the few Canada has prosecuted on Chinese interference allegations, despite Beijing’s suspected meddling in everything from elections to the arts.
But the case became the latest to end without a conviction, following the acquittals of a Canadian Space Agency employee and a federal contractor who faced similar charges.
After leaving the RCMP in 2007, Majcher moved to Hong Kong to work in banking and private security. He was arrested upon landing at Vancouver airport in 2023.
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The RCMP said in a news release at the time that its Integrated National Security Enforcement Team had launched an investigation into Majcher in 2021.
The statement accused him of using his knowledge and contacts in Canada “to obtain intelligence or services to benefit the People’s Republic of China.”
He also “contributed to the Chinese government’s efforts to identify and intimidate an individual outside the scope of Canadian law,” the RCMP claimed.
The arrest came amid a series of Global News and Globe and Mail reports about government inaction on Beijing’s meddling in Canada’s political and domestic affairs.
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The Canadian Security intelligence Service wrote in its May 1 annual report that China remains one of the “main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada.”
But Prime Minister Mark Carney has deepened Canada’s ties with Beijing since taking office.
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