AN IMAGE PRESENTED yesterday as evidence that a China-friendly Canadian met “triad leaders” is actually a scene from a Hong Kong movie, we can reveal today.
The picture of people at a table in Macau [see upper image] was published in a media report yesterday as a “casino security clip” showing Hong Kong-based security specialist Bill Majcher and a Chinese contact supposedly meeting “triads”. But it is actually a scene from a Chinese movie called ‘From Vegas to Macau’, in which Majcher played a minor role [see lower image].
UNDERCOVER OPERATOR
The report, by Sam Cooper, was published in The Bureau, an online news publication based in Canada.
The report says: “Remarkably, according to a casino security clip, before a game begins, two Canadians—former RCMP undercover operator William Majcher, now facing trial in Canada for allegedly collecting intelligence to assist China, and Tse Chi Lop, facing trial in Australia for leading one of the world’s top opioid and methamphetamine trafficking syndicates—appear to stand and shake hands.”
But it is no security clip. The image actually comes from a 2014 action comedy film starring Chow Yunfat, from a casino scene which begins at about the 78th minute of the movie, which can be freely watched on YouTube.
SINISTER MOTIVES ATTRIBUTED
The Bill Majcher case is the latest in a long string of incidents in which sinister motives are attributed to interactions between North Americans and people of Chinese ethnicity.
Majcher is a retired “Mountie,” an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who moved to Hong Kong. He is said to have developed skills in business activities such as tracking down missing funds.
But last July, he heard that the authorities in Canada were looking for him in connection with accusations that had been made. Canada bizarrely cancelled its ability to extradite people from Hong Kong so could not “take” Majcher.
But he decided to fly to Canada, telling Hong Kong friends that he was going there “to clear his name”.
TWO MOUNTIES ARRESTED
In Canada, he was charged with conspiracy and with “committing preparatory acts for the benefit of a foreign entity”.
In July this year, another former Mountie was added to the case. Kenneth Ingram Marsh, who used to be commander of an international organized crime unit, was named as a “co-conspirator”.
Canadian authorities have not released details of the case, which will be heard later this year.
POLITICIZED CASES
People with knowledge of cross-border China-North America crime say that investigators of all backgrounds are sometimes asked to help track down fugitives who amass large amounts of illicit money in China and then flee.
The lawbreaking escapees present themselves in the west as innocent “dissidents” fleeing political persecution, and present the investigators who find them as bad guys working for “the commies”: an angle that fits perfectly with western media’s sour portrayal of China.
There are many cases. The best known case is that of Miles Guo Wengui, who said he was a politically persecuted dissident and rose to become a partner of Trump strategist Steve Bannon. His story was widely accepted by elements of the media.
However, the US authorities found numerous ongoing problems with his business activities, and Guo was convicted of defrauding followers in New York in July this year.
Lawyers are concerned at the increasingly politics-first stance taken in the west. A Hong Kong lawyer said: “If the rule of law isn’t paramount, then there is no rule of law.”