Top China fugitive tied to criminals
Source: Agencies |
July 20, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ONE of China's most-wanted fugitives is believed to have connections to organized crime, loan sharking and illegal gambling in Canada, a Canadian intelligence officer testified on Monday.
Vancouver detective James Fisher told Lai Changxing's detention hearing that a reliable source told him Lai was in charge of an illegal gaming operation out of a home in Richmond, British Columbia, a Vancouver suburb. His source also told him Lai was in partnership with loan shark Betty Yan, who was found murdered in April 2009. Yan was found shot to death in a Richmond industrial park.
The officer would not name his source.
Lai has been fighting deportation, arguing he could face torture or even death back in China. His lawyer Darryl Larson was surprised to hear the allegations and asked to adjourn Monday's hearing so he could talk to his client.
Lai, who attended the hearing via video and phone link from jail, blurted out several times in Mandarin near the end of the officer's testimony that the claims weren't true. Lai also complained through a translator that he had to remain handcuffed during the hearing.
"It's so unfair to me," he yelled down the phone line.
Lai has spent 12 years fighting his return to China, where he's accused of heading a network that smuggled billions of dollars' worth of goods into China with the protection of corrupt officials.
His deportation order was suspended last week pending a court review due tomorrow.
Fisher said the organized crime group Lai had connections to provided false passports to people seeking to travel between China and Canada, or who wanted to leave Canada for other countries.
"The fact Mr Lai was associating with members of an organized crime group indicates there was a level of trust between them," said Fisher.
Fisher's testimony was the most the public has heard about Lai's activities since his Canadian arrest in 1999.
Outside the hearing, Larson asked why the government brought forth the gambling and loan-sharking allegations only now.
"(Lai) said it's not true," Larson said. "Why didn't they arrest him? Why didn't they charge him?"
His case has drawn the attention of the highest political circles in Canada and China.
Vancouver detective James Fisher told Lai Changxing's detention hearing that a reliable source told him Lai was in charge of an illegal gaming operation out of a home in Richmond, British Columbia, a Vancouver suburb. His source also told him Lai was in partnership with loan shark Betty Yan, who was found murdered in April 2009. Yan was found shot to death in a Richmond industrial park.
The officer would not name his source.
Lai has been fighting deportation, arguing he could face torture or even death back in China. His lawyer Darryl Larson was surprised to hear the allegations and asked to adjourn Monday's hearing so he could talk to his client.
Lai, who attended the hearing via video and phone link from jail, blurted out several times in Mandarin near the end of the officer's testimony that the claims weren't true. Lai also complained through a translator that he had to remain handcuffed during the hearing.
"It's so unfair to me," he yelled down the phone line.
Lai has spent 12 years fighting his return to China, where he's accused of heading a network that smuggled billions of dollars' worth of goods into China with the protection of corrupt officials.
His deportation order was suspended last week pending a court review due tomorrow.
Fisher said the organized crime group Lai had connections to provided false passports to people seeking to travel between China and Canada, or who wanted to leave Canada for other countries.
"The fact Mr Lai was associating with members of an organized crime group indicates there was a level of trust between them," said Fisher.
Fisher's testimony was the most the public has heard about Lai's activities since his Canadian arrest in 1999.
Outside the hearing, Larson asked why the government brought forth the gambling and loan-sharking allegations only now.
"(Lai) said it's not true," Larson said. "Why didn't they arrest him? Why didn't they charge him?"
His case has drawn the attention of the highest political circles in Canada and China.
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