Former RCMP officer charged in China foreign interference case granted bail

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The retired RCMP officer accused of conducting foreign interference on behalf of China has been granted parole with conditions that include non-communication with another former Mountie with whom he allegedly conspired.

Mayor was arrested in Vancouver last week and charged with two counts under the Information Security Act. In a statement announcing the charges, the RCMP claimed that Mr. Majcher ” contributed to the Chinese government’s efforts to identify and intimidate an individual outside the scope of Canadian law.“

Z. Majcher appeared briefly at the parole hearing in a Longueuil, Que. the court by phone from a Vancouver-area jail after technical difficulties prevented him from appearing by video conference. The terms of his release include a cash deposit of $ 50,000 and $ 200,000 paid out of guarantees. He must stay in Canada, lose his Canadian passport and reside in a separate residence in Vancouver or inform the RCMP if he changes addresses.

The court documents claim that the 60-year-old Mr. Majcher conspired with former RCMP officer Kenneth Ingram Marsh, along with “other known and unknown persons.”His bail conditions, imposed on Tuesday, prohibit Mr.Maycher to speak with Mr. Marsh or a man named Ross Gaffney, except through his lawyer for the purposes of preparing his defense. The RCMP has not announced any charges against Mr.Marsh and no one from the force was available for comment on Tuesday.

What we know about the retired RCMP officer charged with conducting foreign interference for China

Z. Marsh, also known as Kim Marsh, declined to comment when reached by The Globe and Mail by phone. “You have to understand, I can’t talk right now. It’s just not appropriate, ” he said before hanging up. He did not respond to a later request for comment by e-mail.

The former RCMP commander, who is the current president of Marsh Advisory, describes himself as a” global compliance specialist ” on the organization’s website. His biography says he has 40 years of investigative experience in Canada and abroad, including in Asia. After 25 years with the RCMP, he stepped down as commander of an international organised crime investigation unit where the website said he was responsible for large-scale covert operations in Europe, Asia and North America.

Z. Marsh wrote a memoir, published last June, about his secret investigative work called Cunning Lips. He refers to Mr.Majcher as his ” friend Mountie “and describes him as a” good undercover operator ” with an extensive Rolodex and enviable business skills.

The Other Person That Mr. Maycher can not contact is Mr. Gaffney, also the name of a former FBI agent who worked with Mr. Majcher in an undercover operation in the late 1990s.

In 1999, Mr. Majcher was assigned to a joint FBI-RCMP operation called Bermuda Short, where he was told to represent a fictitious Colombian cartel that was laundering millions of dollars. Z. Gaffney oversaw that operation. The FBI and RCMP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The former FBI agent runs a law consulting firm called Gaffney Gallagher &Amp; Philip LLC; he did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the globe. The company’s website said it specializes in “complex international investigation of economic crime, anti-money laundering training, asset tracking, due diligence, special event, and crisis and consequence management.”

The charges against Majer come amid a national debate over Chinese government interference in Canada, as the country’s intelligence services face pressure to show they are addressing the issue after facing accusations of ignoring it.

After serving in the RCMP from 1985 to 2007, Mr. Majcher became a successful corporate investigator in Hong Kong, drawing on his history in law enforcement. Mounties claimed in a statement on Friday that he ” used his knowledge and his extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain intelligence or services to benefit the people’s Republic of China.“

Mountie was arrested after arriving in Vancouver by plane on July 18, before being released because the RCMP did not believe they had enough information to charge him, according to a police force spokesman. He was arrested again two days later and charged with preparatory acts for the benefit of a foreign entity and conspiracy under the national security law.

Under the Information Security Act, The Crown can file charges in any jurisdiction. The RCMP’s investigation into Mr.Majcher was based in Montreal, so Court proceedings are taking place in a Montreal suburb while he is being held in B. C. Crown prosecutor Marc Gypsy explained.

A guide to foreign interference and China’s alleged influence in Canada

Z. Majcher has been under investigation since 2021, the RCMP said. The force has not ruled out further arrests.

His LinkedIn page says that Mr. Majcher is president of Emidr Ltd. in Hong Kong, a profile firm his Speakers Connect says “deploys military-level cyber technology to assist in cybersecurity and asset recovery operations. A spokesman for the RCMP said The Force believes the Chinese government is one of Mr Trump’s clients.Majcher.

In an Australian television broadcast in 2019, Mr. Majcher spoke openly about his involvement in Project Dragon, an effort by Beijing to “recover millions of dollars in alleged ‘hot money’ taken from the country.”

“As long as the demand is valid and as long as we are doing everything legally and properly, I am a weapon employed to help large corporations or governments get back what is rightfully theirs,” he said.

The Book Of Z. Marsh, meanwhile, details three investigations that the two men worked on together.

The first was a” nice caper ” involving a Canadian target living in Costa Rica. In 2010, Mr. Marsh said that Mr. Majcher brought him to an assignment with his client, a Russian millionaire named Vladimir Antonov, through his work with a “financial firm that put together deals and made companies public.”

In the 2013 report, Mr. Majcher was brought into another investigation, this time into funds allegedly smuggled out of Libya by the family of former de facto Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. “Unfortunately, Majcher had been dealing with an Ivory Coast citizen for a deal,” Mr.Marsh. “This was the perfect scenario, as Majcher would need a visa, which would be facilitated by his business associate. While there, Majcher would be my second set of eyes and ears.”

With reports from Steven Chase and James Griffiths