Canada has become a safe haven for some of the world's most wanted fugitives who claim they can't get a fair trial in their home countries.
And it's fuelling growing outrage among our extradition treaty partners.
A three-month investigation by The Province has revealed that the damage to Canada's reputation is international.
Canada's hesitancy in dispatching fugitives back to the countries where they are wanted is an increasingly sore point among foreign governments.
Grievances are being nursed by our near-neighbours in the U.S. and Mexico, and across Asia. Leaders of the Philippines, Thailand and China are among those who have made strong representations to Ottawa to no avail.
Among the high-profile fugitives living here:
- Michael Karas, fighting extradition in Vancouver and wanted in Thailand for the alleged 1996 murder of 24-year-old Suwannee Ratanaprakorn in the beach resort of Pattaya.
- Gloria Chingkoe of Richmond, accused with her husband Faustino of allegedly defrauding the Philippines government of $75 million.
- Rakesh Saxena of Vancouver, a financier Thailand has been trying to extradite for 10 years for allegedly embezzling $88 million from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce.
- Rodolfo Pacificador, a free man in Toronto still wanted in the Philippines for his alleged role in the assassination of provincial governor Evelio Javier in 1986. He followed the lead of fellow Ferdinand Marcos crony Dewey Go Dee, another Filipino who won asylum in Canada.
Several corrupt Filipino police officials also used Canada as a hideout, a Filipino secret agent who goes by the name "Rosebud" told The Province from her Manila army "cell," where she is being held under a witness protection program.
Indian police say they have a whole host of wanted people who are residing in Canada. Among the more high- profile ones are Subhash Agrawal of Ottawa, wanted in India as a suspect in the 2003 murder of his sister, Canadian Dr. Asha Goel; Harnek Singh Grewal, who leads a powerful Sikh sect, wanted for allegedly inciting a deadly riot; and Malkiat Kaur Sidhu and Surjit Singh Badesha of Maple Ridge, wanted for the alleged contract killing of Sidhu's daughter.
China says its efforts to bring fugitives back in its crackdown against graft are being stymied by Canada. They believe at least five of their most wanted are in the country.
The latest case involves a trio of former bankers with the Bank of China. They are accused in an embezzlement scheme involving $100 million.
One of them, Gao Shan, lives with his family in North Vancouver.
Earlier, three other managers from the Bank of China moved to Richmond and deposited large amounts of cash in local banks and bought local properties.
But the most infamous of the fugitives is Lai Changxing, an accused smuggling mastermind who has been fighting to stay in Canada for almost a decade.
Mexico, frustrated at Canada's extradition process, has given up trying to get one of its high-profile fugitives while it continues its efforts to get at a union leader who has taken up residence in Vancouver with the support of local labour activists.
The list goes on. How Canada deals with these and other fugitives is heavily influenced by politics, judicial activism and high-powered extradition lawyers.
These and other factors combine to build delays into the Canadian process that throw it out of sync with its treaty partners.
For example, foreign governments normally complete requests for extradition within six months to two years.
But Canada's response can be delayed for decades.
In recent cases, Canada has delayed extradition requests in blunt language.
Thailand was told: Your assurances of fair and due process can't be trusted.
The Philippines was rebuffed: Your judiciary is unacceptably corrupt.
We told Mexico: Your evidence is unbelievable.
India was advised: Your arrest warrants for Canadians are none of our business.
And to the U.S. we said: Your violent offenders are entitled to our full protection.
Behind the veil of international diplomacy, angry reaction is building.
Thai prosecutor Piyatida Jermhansa says "we rank Canada as the slowest" among the 26 countries with which Thailand has extradition treaties.
In the Philippines, Canada's extradition system is regarded with open hostility.
Politicians there are still bitter over a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision that upheld a lower court ruling that said the Philippines judicial system was so bad it would "shock the conscience" of Canadians.
Philippines Special Prosecutor Dennis M. Villa-Ignacio says: "Canada is becoming known as a haven" for fugitives. "I would like to know what the Canadian government is going to do about it." Adds Senator Panfilo Morena Lacson, candidate for mayor of Manila: "That these fugitives can roam around freely in Canada, that is an injustice to say the least."
Special Insp. Swaran Singh, the lead investigator in India, credited with cracking a contract killing involving a beautician from Maple Ridge, is exasperated.
"The extradition request is already completed and submitted to the Ministry of External Affairs branch and filed with Interpol," Singh said in a telephone interview from Punjab.
He said RCMP officers had traveled to India on several occasions to "collect information."
But their report is still not ready.
"It's frustrating. Very, very frustrating," he complains.
Why do the world's most wanted seek sanctuary in Canada?
Many are wealthy, allegedly having plundered the treasuries, banks and businesses of their home countries.
They know that, with the right lawyers, they can exploit Canada's extradition system to buy indefinite liberty.
There's one track for the wealthy fugitive, another for the poor, says one extradition lawyer.
"No lawyer's going to take legal aid for making submissions to the minister of justice," he quips.
Canadian law provides a host of options and "protections" within the context of extradition.
"The Charter [of Rights] applies to every aspect of the process," a justice department official says. "That's our system. We can't fault [fugitives] for availing themselves of their legal rights."
And those rights have become more deeply entrenched with rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada that effectively open new loopholes.
In June 1999, a new Extradition Act took effect. It was designed to "fast track" the process by relaxing the nature of evidence required at extradition hearings.
The act was designed to "prevent fugitives from considering Canada as a safe haven."
But it has backfired.
Before 1999, countries making extradition requests had to meet stringent evidentiary requirements -- including sworn affidavits from persons affected or connected by the crime -- resulting in long delays.
The new act removed the requirements, allowing a mere summary of evidence. Judges were to accept it in good faith.
For a time it appeared to be working.
"There were hundreds of cases flowing through without much consideration at all," says Gary Botting, a legal scholar with the University of B.C.'s Faculty of Law.
But a quartet of Supreme Court of Canada rulings, known collectively as the Ortega ruling, quickly derailed the "rubber stamp" approach.
The Court said judges had a duty to protect the Charter rights of fugitives by questioning foreign evidence. It allows lawyers to put up all sorts of objections.
They can challenge how the evidence was gathered and criticize the governments, courts, prisons and punishments of requesting states.
"If something arises at the hearing that completely undermines that evidence . . . then the Supreme Court has clearly given the extradition judge the authority to consider that issue," says Botting.
Richard Peck, a Vancouver lawyer who challenged the Extradition Act in Canada's highest court, refers to the Ortega ruling as a "sea change" in legislation.
Lawyers say it could force Canada to rewrite extradition treaties with 50 countries.
The board noted he faces certain death if he's deported to Bangladesh. 
