Retired Canadian Police Officer Acquitted of National Security Charges

A retired police officer accused of acting as an agent for China has been acquitted of national security charges after prosecutors failed to prove he acted illegally. William Majcher, who served in the RCMP’s financial crime unit, was charged in 2023.

The allegations centered on claims that he breached Canada’s Security of Information Act by helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, who was accused of fraud, to return to China. On Wednesday, a British Columbia supreme court justice found Majcher not guilty.

The justice stated that the crown, which brought a rarely used charge, had failed to meet its burden in the case. The closely watched case occurred amid concerns that China was interfering in Canadian elections and operating clandestine police stations throughout the country to threaten dissidents.

Majcher, who lives in Hong Kong and works as a private financial and cybersecurity investigator, was arrested in Vancouver in 2023. At the time of the arrest, police alleged he used his knowledge and extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain intelligence or services to benefit the People’s Republic of China.

The case unraveled at trial when prosecutors could not convince the judge that anything illegal had occurred. The justice ruled that the evidence presented by prosecutors was entirely circumstantial. The justice added that the arrest by the RCMP appeared to be based on a hunch or generalized suspicion.

The justice also questioned a meeting between Majcher and his former boss, an anti-money-laundering expert. In that meeting, Majcher explained his working relationship with the Chinese government. The justice wrote that it was reasonable to infer Majcher would not have directed the attention of a former high-ranking law enforcement official toward his activities with the People’s Republic of China if he understood those activities to involve unlawful extortive conduct.

Majcher told reporters after the verdict that he was very grateful to both the judge and his wife. He said the three years of legal proceedings had been devastating for his wife and young children. “That’s time I’ll never get back, they’ll never get back,” he said.

Majcher’s lawyer told reporters after the verdict that foreign interference fears may have influenced the RCMP’s investigation and the very significant public resources it consumed.

The acquittal follows Majcher’s arrest in Vancouver in 2023.

He had been living in Hong Kong while working in private financial and cybersecurity investigation. The charges related to events involving a real estate investor in the Vancouver area who faced fraud accusations in China.