Canadian police this Saturday accused a former Royal Gendarmerie officer of Canada to spy China and helping Beijing authorities “identify and intimidate” an unidentified person.

The former agent, identified as William Majcher, 60, born in Hong Kong, according to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police press release, “allegedly used his knowledge and extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain information or services for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China“, according to the investigation.

The process began in late 2021 and, according to Canadian police, William Majcher “contributed to the Chinese government’s efforts to identify and intimidate a person beyond the reach of Canadian law“.

William Majcher, arrested by the Canadian police, appeared this Saturday before a judge in Montreal and, according to the EFE agency, this is the first time that an individual has been accused in Canada of foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs .

This arrest came after the Canadian press published, in recent months, information according to which the Canadian intelligence services (CSIS) had detected campaigns of interference by Chinese authorities in the Canadian general elections.

One of the published reports indicated that CSIS had known since 2021 that Chinese authorities wanted to obtain information on the relatives of Canadian MP Michael Chong in order to impose “potential sanctions” on them.

The same reports identified a Chinese diplomat in Ottawa, Zhao Wei, who was trying to locate the MP’s family, believed to be living in Hong Kong.

In May, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced the expulsion of the Chinese diplomat and said the country would not tolerate any form of foreign interference in internal affairs.