Exclusive: Former RCMP officer cleared of allegation he helped China with foreign interference demands answers

RCMP national security officers were waiting for William Majcher when his flight from Hong Kong landed at Vancouver International Airport on July 18, 2023.

Inside an airport interview room, they questioned the previous Mountie for five hours, and after they were done, Majcher said he still wasn’t sure what it was about.

“I can’t say it was well articulated,” Majcher told Global News in an exclusive interview, his first since his high-profile espionage trial ended last month.

“None of it made sense to me.”

On May 13, a B.C. judge agreed, acquitting Majcher of a charge alleging he was a part of a Chinese government foreign interference operation.

What began with sensational claims — that Majcher was helping Beijing secretly extend its long reach into Canada — ended with a whimper.

And as Prime Minister Mark Carney courts Beijing amid a U.S. trade war, the botched case has raised questions on the strength of Canada’s defences against China.

The investigation targeted former cops whom the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP suspected were offering their services to Beijing.

It revolved around Majcher, a former RCMP inspector who left the national police force in 2007 and moved to Hong Kong to work in banking and personal security.

As a retired Mountie in business in Hong Kong, Majcher said he thought he had done every part possible to maintain on the fitting side of Canada’s laws and interests.

While he took jobs from Chinese state-owned enterprises, he said he never knowingly worked for the Chinese state, its public security bureau or police.

He helped CSIS when asked, and made sure the agency knew what he was as much as. When he returned to Canada on business, he disclosed his work to frame officials.

His candour, nonetheless, worked against him.

Amid politically damaging allegations in Ottawa about Chinese foreign interference, Majcher was branded a Chinese asset and a threat to Canada.

He became one in every of the few ever arrested over allegations of Chinese meddling in Canadian affairs. However the case left a key query unresolved: what’s foreign interference?

With the trial now behind him, Majcher told Global News he believes the RCMP and CSIS are right to be nervous in regards to the activities of foreign governments, whether China or India. But as a veteran RCMP officer, he expected higher from Canada’s national security system, and said the case raised broader concerns.

“Canada must be very concerned that that is the extent of investigative quality that we will expect from our national police force in something as vital as national security,” Majcher said.

He said Canada needs competent intelligence and law enforcement. “And from where I sit, we’ve got neither. That’s the biggest national security threat facing Canada.”

CSIS declined to comment. The RCMP said in a press release that it will be reviewing the court’s decision on Majcher. Last week, federal prosecutors appealed Majcher’s acquittal.

But hundreds of pages of documents reviewed by Global News show how a serious investigation involving at the very least three federal departments and almost 80 search warrants got here up short.

An authority in financial crimes, Majcher joined the RCMP in 1985 and went undercover inside drug cartels, posing as a banker who could launder their profits.

He retired in 2007 and moved to Hong Kong to work for a merchant bank, after which an investment fund, before starting his own firm, EMIDR, in 2015.

A cybersecurity company, EMIDR got involved in asset recovery when a client asked Majcher to trace thousands and thousands stolen in a Bitcoin hack, he said.

As a former police officer who had segued into private security, he exchanged details about stolen assets with colleagues on the identical profession path, nevertheless it wasn’t an enormous a part of his business, he said.

Mostly, he provided procurement, logistics and advisory services, helping banks and governments understand financial crime. “I’m a Jack-of-all-trades sort of guy,” he told the RCMP following his arrest.

Majcher also did more secretive work. In 2011, CSIS approached him for assist in Asia, in accordance with a 13-page document he wrote that became a part of the RCMP’s investigation.

A covert operations officer asked Majcher if he could arrange weapons caches for moving sidearms across borders for the agency, the document said.

Majcher thought it was possible and suggested a location on the Indian Ocean, possibly Sri Lanka, but CSIS didn’t raise the subject again.

A couple of months later, Canadian intelligence contacted him again, the document said, this time about inserting CSIS personnel into Hong Kong businesses.

The officer asked if Majcher would consider employing CSIS operatives to bolster their cover stories, in accordance with the document.

But CSIS decided it didn’t have anyone qualified, and recruited Majcher for the job, which involved getting near Chinese targets.

“I used to be prepared to do my part,” Majcher wrote.

He met his CSIS handler in Canada and was later introduced to the British secret intelligence service, MI-6, which was a part of the joint operation, he said.

In Bangkok, Majcher was given a secure laptop and a briefing on the targets CSIS considered “high value,” he wrote.

The project wound down after lower than two years, in accordance with the document, and CSIS paid him in money, delivered in an envelope.

Majcher said he had similarly helped other members of the Five Eyes alliance, which includes not only Canada but additionally the U.K., U.S., Australia and Latest Zealand.

CSIS declined to comment on whether Majcher had worked for the agency. But an RCMP report said his account suggested he could have been a CSIS asset between 2011 and 2015.

By the top 2018, the report continued, he was “possibly considered a ‘threat’ to the safety of Canada as a result of his involvement within the case of Meng Wanzhou.”

A top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei, Meng was taken into custody as she transited through Vancouver airport on Dec. 1, 2018.

The US had issued a warrant for her arrest over her alleged dealings with Iran, and Canada held her for extradition.

As China ramped up pressure on Ottawa to release her, Majcher was contacted by Anbound, a Beijing think tank, in regards to the Meng affair.

Anbound wanted him to travel to Vancouver and write a report on legal strategies surrounding Meng’s extradition. “It was very basic,” Majcher said.

But then China raised the stakes by arresting two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who became bargaining chips for Meng’s release.

“And so I said, OK, that is getting a bit more sensitive,” Majcher told Global News. “So I made an effort to notify the Canadian government, CSIS specifically, that I used to be coming to Canada and what it was about and if you desire to refer to me, I’m available.”

Because Thailand had been his contact point with CSIS prior to now, he went to the Canadian embassy and told the CSIS officer in regards to the Anbound task, and his suspicion the Chinese government could be behind it.

He said he can be flying to Vancouver to meet the contract and was willing to make use of the chance to resume working for CSIS.

However the agency didn’t take up his offer, nor did it raise any concerns in regards to the Anbound work, he said, so he flew to Vancouver on Jan. 19, 2019.

Apparently flagged by CSIS prior to his arrival, he was questioned by the CBSA and again explained that he was working for a Chinese entity on the Meng case.

In accordance with the CBSA report on his interview, Majcher “revealed that he was asked by the Chinese government to return to refer to some Canadian government officials.”

“He also stated that a part of the rationale for his trip is due to the Huawei executive that was arrested in Vancouver,” the report said.

“He stated that the Chinese government had consulted him in regards to the situation and court process and the general situation. The topic stated that he has close ties to the Chinese government and that they’re fully aware of his past occupation.”

Majcher told Global News the CBSA report was incorrect, and the officer’s notes don’t make the identical allegations. He said he never said he was working for the Chinese government, and had never knowingly done so.

A search of his bags turned up nothing, and Majcher was allowed to proceed, however the trip, along with a visit to Toronto in May, appears to have made him a goal.

On March 9, 2022, CSIS issued an Espionage Alert that called Majcher a major “threat to Canada and Canadian national interests.”

“He’s working as an asset of hostile intelligence threat actors within the People’s Republic of China,” the government-wide bulletin said.

“Majcher continues to undertake intelligence-gathering activities in Canada on behalf of the PRC including by leveraging contacts inside Canada,” it said.

CSIS had made him out to be “Canada’s Kim Philby,” Majcher said, referring to the notorious British intelligence officer who became a Soviet double agent.

But Majcher said he had done every part conceivable to remain on the fitting side of Canadian national security agencies, ensuring they were informed of his work.

“And all I did was put a bullseye on my back,” he said.

The investigation also dragged in Majcher’s Canadian contacts, notably RCMP officer Peter Merrifield and Paul McNamara, a former Vancouver police officer who had moved to the private sector.

Merrifield said he suddenly found himself under investigation consequently of false intelligence and lost his top secret security clearance, although he was ultimately exonerated.

“This case represents essentially the most egregious example of ‘proceed by confirmation bias’ of a national security investigation,” he said.

“It’s a transparent warning shot to Canada of the shortage of capability in Canada’s national security agencies and infrastructure to separate and filter information from targeted disinformation.”

McNamara had worked with Majcher when each were cops, and although they kept in contact through the years, he said they’d no business relationship.

But investigators noted that when Majcher had visited Vancouver to write down his report on Meng, he had met with McNamara.

McNamara worked for VXL Enterprise, an organization that protects U.S. diplomatic posts in Canada, but his security clearance was revoked in 2021 and he lost his job.

He blamed CSIS for turning his friendship with Majcher and his own 2019 visit to China to purchase a training pool for his daughter, a competitive swimmer, right into a conspiracy.

“They fully believed that Majcher had this in-depth, evil network of cops working for him on the behest of China,” he told Global News.

“And it’s absolute garbage,” he said. “They mainly send what they think is that this big espionage file involving Meng Wanzhou to the RCMP on Sept. 14th, 2021.”

Foreign interference was emerging as a top priority for the federal government when the RCMP took an interest in Majcher, amid reports of Beijing’s tampering in Canadian life and politics.

Drowning in corruption, China launched Operation Fox Hunt to stage a show of tracking down alleged economic criminals who had fled abroad with money.

To persuade them to return to confess their guilt, Chinese security agencies resorted to harassment, threats and even kidnapping. CSIS suspected China was hiring lawyers and personal investigators to trace down a few of them in western countries.

But Fox Hunt also used its anti-corruption drive as a canopy for silencing dissidents within the diaspora in Canada and elsewhere, in addition to to reveal that China’s reach had no limits.

China’s actions were an affront to Canada’s sovereignty, and the RCMP was chargeable for stopping them, however the victims were reluctant to return forward. After which the RCMP learned that CSIS was investigating a retired Mountie.

Based on a tip from CSIS, the RCMP launched Project Severo in 2021 to analyze Majcher’s alleged activities on behalf of the Chinese state.

Particularly, CSIS pointed the RCMP to an Australian television documentary on Operation Fox Hunt wherein Majcher had appeared.

The documentary was a few Hong Kong company that had hired former law enforcement officials to recuperate assets allegedly stolen from China.

In the published, Majcher called himself “a hired gun” who helped corporations and governments “get back what’s rightfully theirs.”

Matcher told Global News he was playing for the cameras. “I can actually get acting credits for those things,” he said.

He said he knew the best way to “polish the apple” to make a story more entertaining, but denied any involvement within the cases featured within the documentary.

To the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in Quebec, nonetheless, the video was the place to begin for an investigation.

The RCMP felt that Majcher’s years of service to Canada’s national police force had left him “a well-suited candidate” for China.

“Majcher had and has an intensive network of contacts inside the law enforcement and national security community,” the RCMP wrote.

In a memo marked Secret, the RCMP’s Foreign Actor Interference Team noted that Majcher also had “ongoing contact with RCMP members.”

Those contacts “may wittingly or unwittingly” be providing assistance to Majcher’s “illegitimate and bonafide support of the objectives of the PRC,” it said.

“The activities of Majcher are a threat to the sovereignty of Canada,” the RCMP wrote. “Project Severo goals to analyze and neutralize that threat.”

To get search warrants, police told a Quebec judge they needed to seize Majcher’s communications because he reported to China’s Public Security Bureau.

The RCMP also obtained warrants from the federal court to look the phone records of other former cops, including McNamara, dating back to 2014, the 12 months Fox Hunt began.

“Majcher is well-connected to the Chinese government,” the RCMP told the judge. “He has close ties with the Chinese government” and works at its “behest.”

Majcher called those statements “utterly false.”

The warrants show how the main target of the investigation had shifted from the Meng affair to Majcher’s supposed role in Operation Fox Hunt.

They noted that in 2017, Majcher had told a colleague in an email that he was involved in negotiations with China to recuperate money from someone wanted by China.

If the unnamed “goal” didn’t cooperate, there can be an extradition request, he wrote, but “we feel he’s motivated … as we will guarantee him his passport and no jail time.”

Majcher told Global News he was working with a lawyer to find out whether anyone had a court claim against the suspect. Once they realized no such court proceedings had been initiated, they dropped it, he said.

A 12 months into the investigation, the RCMP received a 13-page report Majcher had written that spelled out his work for CSIS. Majcher had given it to Merrifield, a serving RCMP officer, who gave it to the investigation team.

The event “could have detrimental effects on the present investigation,” the RCMP wrote in a top secret report that said police needed to make clear with CSIS whether Majcher had indeed worked for the agency.

“These questions, if left unanswered, ultimately threaten the RCMP’s ongoing investigation into Majcher,” the RCMP report said.

Whether CSIS responded shouldn’t be explained within the documents. Former CSIS executive Dan Stanton said he found Majcher’s account hard to consider.

“The speak about gun caches in another country, and terminology like assets. That’s sort of a Hollywood word. It just seems a bit incredible to me.”

However the documents show that on July 15, 2023, the RCMP learned that Majcher was coming to Canada and decided to arrest him.

The choice was prompted partly by concerns that news of the investigation was starting to spread. Majcher himself had already got wind of it from a news reporter.

“The arrest of Majcher will make sure that public interest is upheld,” the RCMP wrote in its decision, adding it will also put an end to  “the continuing conspiracy.”

Within the interview conducted after Majcher’s arrest, the officer talked about Operation Fox Hunt and said that a few of those targeted were in Canada.

He mentioned the Australian documentary about Fox Hunt targets who were threatened, and said, “We consider the identical is occurring here in Canada.”

“Your name got here up for just a few incidents,” the officer said. “Do we’ve got the accurate information, or are we just being fed the improper information?”

“I even have not done anything illegal,” Majcher responded.

The RCMP interviews were a “fishing trip,” Majcher told Global News. Names like Meng Wanzhou were mentioned, nevertheless it was vague and disconnected.

“‘We’re hearing things, we’re picking up on some things.’ ‘OK, well, why don’t you tell me then what specifically you’re fascinated about?’” he said, describing the conversations.

“And I asked repeatedly, ‘Are you able to explain to me what are the weather of the offence? I mean, I’m just not understanding what you think that I’ve done,’” he said. “All of the investigator would do is just read the charge.”

The fees alleged that Majcher had been a part of an effort to compel a Fox Hunt goal, Kevin Sun, to return to China in 2017.

Beijing had accused Sun of moving to Canada with tens of thousands and thousands he had allegedly pilfered from the Industrial Business Bank of China.

The RCMP theory was that Chinese authorities had sent Majcher to Vancouver to “discover and intimidate” Sun so he would return to China.

Majcher denies that and told Global News he had never once worked for China. “I even have no relationship, no direct relationship. Never have.”

“I do know individuals who say they know people. I mean, it’s the old daisy chain,” he said. “I’m not hiding anything. I told the reality.

“They usually selected to disregard it.”

The trial was already falling apart by the point it began in April. The B.C. courts had ruled that Majcher’s arrest was illegal because it was based on nothing greater than a “hunch.”

The court also tossed out the outcomes of the search of the house of one in every of Majcher’s associates, Kim Marsh, a former RCMP officer along with his own security business, because police had no evidence that any crime was committed.

The prosecution got here all the way down to a single email. The Crown closed its case after just two days. The defence argued Majcher had done every part by the book.

The judge ruled that the case was all inferences, and there was no evidence Majcher had done any of the things the Crown was alleging.

It was Canada’s latest failed prosecution under the Security of Information Act, which was Ottawa’s legislative response to foreign interference.

Previous cases alleging a Canadian Space Agency worker and a government contractor had worked illicitly for China similarly fell apart, while a call on one other is pending.

McNamara said the Majcher investigation must have ended when the evidence contradicted the RCMP’s theory about former cops doing China’s dirty work.

“Foreign interference is an actual thing. It’s at all times going to be there, it’s going to occur, and we will’t dictate what other countries are going to attempt to do to Canada,” he said.

“But what we will control is how robust and efficient our intelligence and policing services are. And having undergone this particular case, if that is the extent of intelligence and incompetence we’ve got to fight foreign interference or espionage, the offending country shouldn’t be the difficulty, it’s our inability to defend ourselves.”

For its part, the RCMP said that many former members move into the private sector, they usually will not be barred from working for foreign governments.

“Nevertheless, any such work must comply with Canadian laws that protect national security and government information — they need to not engage in activities that harm Canada’s interests,” the RCMP said.

“If these obligations are breached, individuals may face investigation and penalties under federal law, including criminal charges.”

However the case against Majcher suggests Canada’s national security apparatus isn’t clear in regards to the distinction between legitimately working for a foreign state and interesting in foreign interference. Where is the road?

And if police and intelligence investigators don’t know, how are their former colleagues who’ve moved on to the private sector speculated to know?

“On this case, the definition of foreign interference actually raises more questions than answers. There doesn’t appear to be a transparent line,” said Fabian Dawson, a Vancouver investigative journalist.

Dawson said legal and accounting firms have been implicated in pressuring fugitives in Canada on behalf of the Chinese government, but none have been charged.

“So why did they pick this particular file to go ahead and prove that they’re showing that Canada is serious about foreign interference?” said Dawson, who has written extensively in regards to the case.

He believes a public inquiry is required to make sure national security investigations will not be politically driven and to point out Canada is serious about foreign interference.

“I do think that lessons should be learned from this. We want an inquiry. Not to seek out blame. We want a inquiry to make sure that this doesn’t occur again.”

Before returning to Hong Kong, Majcher told Global News the prosecution had been a “horrific method to lose three years of your life.”

“I had spent, at that time, 18 years build up my brand in Hong Kong, my network, and in a single fell swoop, the half-wits took it away,” he said.

Last 12 months, he sued the RCMP and CSIS for what his statement of claim alleges was a malicious prosecution, which he suspects relied on a witness he called unreliable.

Majcher said his businesses had suffered, and he had spent “plenty of money” defending himself, but most significantly, he lost precious time along with his kids.

“I’ve been robbed of three years, and there must be accountability,” he said. “Not since it happened to me, but since it even happened in any respect.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca