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China's most-wanted fugitive faces deportation from Canada
Source: Shanghai Daily |
July 12, 2011, Tuesday
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Lai Changxing, long considered one of China's most-wanted fugitives, is expected to be deported back to the country from Canada later this month if the federal court rules against his application for an interim stay, Canada's major media reported yesterday.
At an immigration detention hearing yesterday, an Immigration Canada official said the federal court is scheduled to start proceedings in Lai's case on July 21 and if the judge rules against his application to postpone the deportation, Lai will be deported as soon as July 25, according to a report from The Global Chinese Press, a Canada-based Chinese newspaper.
Lai said at the hearing that the agents swooped on his downtown Vancouver residence about 1pm last Thursday and bundled him into custody, The Global and Mail reported yesterday.
He had been scheduled to be sent back to China as early as this afternoon. However, Lai won an interim stay of deportation yesterday morning, giving him a chance to argue for a longer stay in the July 21 hearing, The Global and Mail report said.
Lai's lawyer David Matas told media that he will argue at the hearing that the assurances Canada has secured from the Chinese government are inadequate and Lai should be allowed to remain in Canada.
If Matas' argument fails to win support from the judge, it would be the end of Lai's prolonged legal fight to remain in Canada, which has lasted more than 10 years.
Lai is accused of masterminding the biggest-ever smuggling ring in China, involving US$6.8 billion in goods and US$3.8 billion in evaded taxes. He has been hiding in Canada for more than a decade because Canadian law forbids extraditing criminals to countries where they will face the death penalty.
Lai was also allegedly responsible for the biggest corruption scandal in the 1990s. More than 700 government officials were involved in receiving sexual services and money provided by him. Fourteen were sentenced to death.
At an immigration detention hearing yesterday, an Immigration Canada official said the federal court is scheduled to start proceedings in Lai's case on July 21 and if the judge rules against his application to postpone the deportation, Lai will be deported as soon as July 25, according to a report from The Global Chinese Press, a Canada-based Chinese newspaper.
Lai said at the hearing that the agents swooped on his downtown Vancouver residence about 1pm last Thursday and bundled him into custody, The Global and Mail reported yesterday.
He had been scheduled to be sent back to China as early as this afternoon. However, Lai won an interim stay of deportation yesterday morning, giving him a chance to argue for a longer stay in the July 21 hearing, The Global and Mail report said.
Lai's lawyer David Matas told media that he will argue at the hearing that the assurances Canada has secured from the Chinese government are inadequate and Lai should be allowed to remain in Canada.
If Matas' argument fails to win support from the judge, it would be the end of Lai's prolonged legal fight to remain in Canada, which has lasted more than 10 years.
Lai is accused of masterminding the biggest-ever smuggling ring in China, involving US$6.8 billion in goods and US$3.8 billion in evaded taxes. He has been hiding in Canada for more than a decade because Canadian law forbids extraditing criminals to countries where they will face the death penalty.
Lai was also allegedly responsible for the biggest corruption scandal in the 1990s. More than 700 government officials were involved in receiving sexual services and money provided by him. Fourteen were sentenced to death.
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