Lai Changxing: Chinese Fugitive Repatriated, Arrested in Airport

This TV grab taken on July 23, 2011 from China's Central Television shows fugitive Chinese businessman Lai Changxing escorted by Chinese authorities after he landed in the Chinese capital aboard a civilian flight in the custody of Canadian police, at the (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing was deported to China and arrested by Chinese police as soon as he landed in the airport on Saturday.

Lai, dubbed “China’s most wanted fugitive”, is accused of masterminding a $10-billion smuggling ring. He fled China and landed in Canada in 1999, and has been fighting to stay in Canada since then.

Earlier this month, a few days ahead of Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s July 18-20 trip to China, Lai was arrested by Canadian authorities and slated to be deported. His lawyer asked for another hearing for Lai’s case, arguing Lai will face torture and execution if returned to China.

On Thursday, a federal court judge upheld the decision to deport Lai, citing assurances by Chinese authorities given to the Canadian government that Lai will not be executed or tortured. He was deported the next day.

Canada does not deport people who face execution if repatriated.

Speaking in a teleconference from Beijing last Monday, Baird said Chinese officials have assured him that white collar crime is no longer punishable by execution.

On Tuesday, two former vice-mayors convicted of bribery were executed in China.

Baird said in a teleconference from Bali on Saturday that capital punishment for white collar crime depends on the nature of the crime. For Lai’s case, he said he had assurances that Lai would not be executed.

Baird has faced questions from Chinese and English journalists as to whether or not he had made a deal with the Chinese regime to have Lai deported. Baird has said repeatedly that the matter of Lai’s deportation is handled by the Canadian judiciary system and the government could not intervene in the case.

“I spoke to Chinese officials, I said that our judicial system operates independently from political affairs and we wouldn’t—we couldn’t intervene,” he repeated on Saturday from Bali where he just finished attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference.

Back in June, Zhang Junsai, the Chinese ambassador to Canada, said that Lai will be “for sure” sent back to China, according to the Chinese-language World Journal.