Preeminent Beijing Fox Hunt case ties into Trudeau fundraising
Preeminent Beijing Fox Hunt case ties into Trudeau fundraising
The Bureau's second conversation with a Canadian intel expert probes political fundraising for Trudeau related to tycoons pursued by Chinese security agencies
Sam Cooper
You mentioned your brief to Attorney General David Eby. And this is important to me because I want to take a step back in time here.
A very vivid scene in my mind, and this will bring Fox Hunt and other issues into this story.
In late 2016, I was giving a panel speech at a University of British Columbia law school event.
The reason I was called to present, was that I had written about this person from northern China, Hongwei ‘Kevin’ Sun, who was becoming a major crowdfunding real estate developer in Vancouver.
And I had been following his very mysterious and fast-growing real estate footprint. And in the crowd was David Eby.
At that point, he was a Vancouver NDP representative, who was gaining popular support because he was speaking about where is all this money flooding into real estate coming from?
He was echoing my reporting back then in a lot of ways. And I also saw some suited gentlemen in the crowd. They had the look of police officers. Then I walked out and you approached me. We had never met.
And very simply, I think you said: ‘Everything you just said is correct. That's my file you're talking about, keep going.’
You mentioned something about casino connectivity.
And I said: ‘That's really interesting. Because Kevin Sun’s colleague had told me in an interview, that Kevin wanted to come over to Canada and to set up some sort of sports betting network.’
Right? Only governments can run gambling in Canada.
And then as we now know, a few years later you briefed David Eby when he became Attorney General. And as he says in his own words, his mind was blown.
So what I want to ask is what was in your mind when you approached me and said: Kevin Sun is important, keep going. And how did you convey the broad importance of this China file to David Eby a few years later?
Scott McGregor
I remember I told you to keep going because that was a significant thing that people needed to know about. You were doing the right thing by creating public awareness around it.
The RCMP themselves, have limitations on the information collection assets that we have. And you have your sources. So I'm sure when you start putting stuff in the news, we list it. Because it helps us. Sometimes it gives us new directions to look.
And so with Kevin Sun? I think there's a lot of things involved.
One important thing is what you reported on with the connectivity between Kevin Sun, and another individual that had once owned the most expensive house in Canada. And the concerns around where that real estate money came from.
[Editor’s Note: Kevin Sun and CHEN Mailin, a pair of Chinese nationals that quickly established major development footprints in Vancouver, have been identified in various source of funds investigations in British Columbia, and Cullen Commission records identify funds investigations at River Rock Casino in connection to CHEN’s real estate development company.]
And this attention on how and where is all this real estate money coming from — the awareness around these things had exploded at the time, with your reporting. So it's easier to try to get people to focus on something from the law enforcement side.
But in order for law enforcement to keep their funding and their initiatives going, they need to be able to say: ‘We've incarcerated this many people.’
And if they don't see the cost benefit to that, they have to move on.
And when you have an enforcement problem in Canada as big as money laundering — I mean if someone can point me to a money laundering case where it's been successful, I'd appreciate it. The United States has different laws where they can arrest people and put them away. We don't have that in Canada.
And this has been briefed to our B.C. Premier David Eby and others, at length.
The Cullen Commission really exposed just how weak our laws and enforcement is.
And I believe Mr. Eby’s trying to correct those things. He was the only one interested. I tried to brief the B.C. Liberal Minister of Finance when we were underneath him in the Gaming Branch. And they wouldn't allow [enforcement of money laundering] during the Christy Clark era.
But as soon as Mr. Eby came in, he immediately wanted to know what was going on. And yes, he was absolutely floored with the depth of information I provided to him.
And now that he's the Premier, he has an awareness that no one else has had.
And I really hope that he has good insight and advice on how the CCP’s United Front and Ministry of State Security will try to get to him and his administration.
I wish him all the best because he's up against it.
Cooper
Okay. Let me focus again on Beijing’s Fox Hunt.
Because I’ve reported on the case of the former RCMP undercover operator Billy Majcher, and how that involves the real estate money laundering suspect Kevin Sun in Vancouver.
And the Fox Hunt brings together some other major names that I have been writing about for years.
Both of us have looked at Tiger Yuan and Justin Trudeau and the former Liberal multiculturalism minister from Richmond, B.C., Raymond Chan.
And they pop up in photos together with some interesting Fox Hunt suspects.
For example, we have talked before about the case of Michael Ching in Richmond.
McGregor
Yes, certainly there is a number of individuals in Canada that Billy Majcher was likely helping the Chinese Communist Party recover.
I want to stress again, that some of those people had Interpol Red Notices put on them by Beijing. And the notices were then removed for some reason. That happens with Kevin Sun.
And it happens with Michael Ching. And so that raises, whether the removal of Interpol Red Notices is because the person is now important and useful for Beijing?
I mean, eventually Michael Ching wanted to build the new International Trade Centre of Vancouver, in Richmond.
Cooper
Okay, so let’s dive into this.
This might be the most fruitful Fox Hunt case to grasp for Canadians wanting to understand questions like: was the Liberal Party of Canada infiltrated? I'm going to ask you that. But first here's what I know.
Media is important.
My colleague at the Vancouver Province got a tip back in 2015. I understand it came from Liberal Party sources who were very concerned that Michael Ching — this person that was identified as a Top 100 Fox Hunt target — was very close to the former minister Raymond Chan.
And Raymond Chan was very involved in fundraising and getting donations into the Liberal Party of Canada from wealthy Chinese nationals in Vancouver. I had Liberal sources on that too.
And Michael Ching’s daughter was president of the B.C. Young Liberals of Canada.
And then you had this group called the Tru-Youth connected to her and Michael Ching and Raymond Chan. That name was a conflation of Trudeau and Youth. A big organization of young Chinese Canadians or maybe permanent residents from China, who knows.
But you had this purported political group of youth — who are supporting Trudeau before he was prime minister. They are fundraising for him.
[Editor’s Note: The South China Morning Post, citing leaked Liberal Party emails, reported that in 2013 the Tru-Youth, which was directed by Michael Ching’s daughter among others, helped “orchestrate large-scale Chinese community events for the party that are believed to have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.”]
And then you have Michael Ching. Not all of our readers will know that his father Cheng Weigao was an extremely elite Chinese Communist Party official. The Party secretary and governor of Hebei Province.
And so this may be important.
Because I was informed by a former Canadian official, that Michael Ching appeared to be for some time, the highest priority interest of the Ministry of State Security within Canada. For whatever reason.
If true, I think it perhaps speaks towards, as I've reported from CSIS investigations, Beijing’s Fox Hunt was interested in a person in Canada with connections to the Politburo.
Perhaps that's the relevance of the Michael Ching case. Or perhaps there's another Fox Hunt target in Canada with connections to the Politburo.
So the ground I'm laying here, is that Michael Ching is a very important figure in China. He was of the highest level interest with security agencies in China that wanted to bring him back. He never went back.
And as you've said, that Interpol Red Notice somehow vanishes at some point.
My question is, what is his importance to the Liberal Party of Canada? What's his importance to the Chinese Communist Party?
And what happened in Vancouver with his daughter leading the B.C. Young Liberals of Canada?
[Editor’s Note: Cheng Weigao was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in 2003 on corruption allegations. His son Michael Ching — known in China as Cheng Muyang — reportedly immigrated to Vancouver in the 2000s. Western intelligence believes that President Xi Jinping has used the Fox Hunt in part to neutralize Xi’s political rivals in the CCP. David Mulroney, Canada’s former ambassador to China, has explained to The Bureau that Beijing can use criminal charges as leverage to encourage Chinese immigrants to fulfill objectives in United Front diaspora activity. Ching has rejected allegations of any corrupt activity and ultimately in his case, a Canadian tribunal found China’s financial fugitive allegations were not established, putting Ching “on the path to Canadian citizenship” the South China Morning Post reported in 2020.]
McGregor
It's funny, I believe Michael Ching attempted to claim status in Canada a long time ago.
And well, being so close to Raymond Chan, the former Canadian minister, I'm guessing that likely works out for him. So Michael Ching. What's the importance to the Chinese Communist Party?
[Editor’s Note: Raymond Chan was Canadian Minister of State (Multiculturalism) in 2006]
Well, Michael Ching is the guy that got close to the Liberal Party leader, who is now the Prime Minister. And that close relationship is established while Michael Ching was listed on an Interpol Red Notice.
And then what happened? Ching just carried on. The building that he initiated, the International Trade Centre in Richmond, I believe it's almost complete now.
[In 2020, a Canadian Tribunal finds that China’s allegations against Ching can’t be supported in Canadian law.]
So he's entrenched in business in Canada. He's entrenched in the political scene, obviously, because of the relationship with the Liberal Party that is now in power.
So he is important to Justin Trudeau. I would say his level of influence within the Chinese Diaspora, is still existing.
And I want to add, that with intelligence analysis we look at locations and connections.
The International Trade Centre that Michael Ching is building, is blocks away from the Vancouver Airport and blocks away from the River Rock Casino in Richmond.
Again, Michael Ching’s daughter ran this Tru-Youth political organization.
And another director was Raymond Chan’s wife, who was special advisor to Justin Trudeau.