A former Mountie accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese government pleaded not guilty Monday to laying the groundwork for a scheme to “induce” a multimillionaire Chinese expat to turn himself over to China where he was accused of financial crimes.

William Majcher took to his feet in the first minutes of what is expected to be a two-week trial in order to deny the single charge against him: committing “preparatory acts” to commit an offence under Canada’s Security of Information Act.

The B.C. Supreme Court proceedings mark the latest chapter in a saga that began almost three years ago with Majcher’s arrest at Vancouver airport in July 2023 following an investigation into his post-RCMP career as a private investigator.

According to court documents, Majcher is accused of preparing to use “threat, accusation, menace or violence” to target B.C.-based real estate mogul Hongwei (Kevin) Sun — a man allegedly wanted in China for financial crimes “ranging into the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

‘We hold the keys to his future’

The Crown believes Majcher’s alleged activities were part of global law enforcement initiatives undertaken by China using intermediaries like private investigators, former officials and ex-law enforcement officers to intimidate Chinese fugitives in their new countries of residence.

The trial was set to take place in front of a jury, but a last-minute decision was made to hold it by judge alone, which set the stage for the release last Friday of a flood of pre-trial decisions that were previously covered by a publication ban.

In one of them, Justice Martha Devlin sets out what she calls “the central piece of evidence the Crown intends to lead at trial” — an email apparently sent by Majcher to an associate in June 2017 in which he speaks about a “fraudster” who the Crown contends is Sun.

“The fraudster is now a … major real estate mogul in Vancouver and we have located over $100M of assets. The Chinese Police have opened a Task Force and standing by to issue a global arrest warrant,” the email reads.

“I hope to have a copy of the warrant before it is issued so we can impress upon the crook that we hold the keys to his future. I am meeting an associate of the target tomorrow in HK [Hong Kong] to see if he can help negotiate a settlement as the Chinese want to use this as a precedent case to settle economic crimes quietly and expeditiously.”

‘Suspicion, speculation, hypotheses, and guesswork’

On Monday, a prosecutor told Devlin the Crown would be introducing Sun’s immigration records to prove that he was both “a real person” and a permanent resident — “so he was to some extent out of the reach of the government of China.”

“That puts in context why the Chinese government and Mr. Majcher were planning to do what they were going to do,” the prosecutor said.

But in pre-trial proceedings, Majcher’s lawyers have refuted the allegations against the former Mountie, convincing Devlin to issue a ruling in March that his 2023 arrest violated his right not to be arbitrarily detained.

Majcher claimed that the grounds for his arrest represented “nothing more than suspicion, speculation, hypotheses, and guesswork,” the judge wrote, noting that she previously threw out a search warrant related to the case on similar grounds.

Majcher worked for the RCMP from 1985 to 2007, specializing in undercover operations and the investigation of economic crimes. After retiring from the RCMP, he moved to Hong Kong and founded a corporate risk firm called EMIDR, which specializes in asset recovery.

According to one of Devlin’s previous rulings, the head of the investigation into Majcher said officers became aware of a speech Majcher gave on Chinese asset recovery in 2015 where he mentioned having been approached by “someone close to senior state security.”

Majcher was also described as a “heavy hitter … co-ordinating on the Chinese side” in an Australian documentary about an investigation into a company accused of investing “in the Australian real estate market with money that had been misappropriated in China.”

According to the pre-trial rulings, the Crown claims the threat of a civil lawsuit against Sun in British Columbia was part of leverage used in 2017 to convince Sun to repatriate himself and his assets to China.

But Majcher contends that the narrative that emerged from the information known to police leaves “too many ‘gaps’ to reasonably infer that Mr. Majcher had any involvement with Mr. Sun.”

‘Have you thought that through?’

On Monday, Majcher’s wife and sister sat in the front row of a narrow public gallery, watching as the first witness took the stand.

Former RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German described a relationship with Majcher that dated back to the years when both men investigated financial crimes for the RCMP.

German provided RCMP with copies of emails he exchanged with Majcher in 2019, including one in which Majcher said he had “signed legal agreements this past year between my company www.emidr.com and entities associated to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and Bureau of Public Security to assist on recovery of proceeds of crime that have fled overseas.”

German described Majcher as “very accomplished and very good at what he does,” as well as “a good talker” who was prone to hyperbole.

With German asked to leave the stand, the Crown and defence sparred over the prosecutor’s request to ask the witness about Majcher’s suspension from the RCMP in 2007, saying the evidence would show that Majcher “was a risk taker and he would go beyond what he was permitted to do.”

Devlin asked the prosecutor if he had thought about how evidence that Majcher wasn’t good at completing tasks would assist in making a case grounded in allegations about “preparatory acts.”

“Have you thought that through?” the judge asked. “How is that going to help you?”