China's most-wanted fugitive, Lai Changxing, could be extradited back home within days following media reports that he has been detained by Canadian border security officers ahead of a one-day federal court hearing on July 21.
Lai was arrested after four years of deliberation by Canadian immigration authorities determined that he was not at risk of being tortured if he was sent back to China.
Canadian national newspaper The Globe and Mail reported that he was scheduled to be put on a flight to China as early as yesterday, but he won an interim stay of deportation on Monday morning.
Canada Border Services Agency representative Kevin Boothroyd told the newspaper that if Lai lost his extradition appeal hearing on July 21, the tentative date for his return would be July 25.
The hearing could end a protracted 10-year legal battle over the former Fujian businessman's application for refugee status. He was accused of operating a large criminal ring under the cover of his Yuanhua Group and allegedly smuggled goods worth billions of yuan into China. He could face smuggling, tax evasion and bribery charges.
He fled to Canada in 1999. Beijing formally applied for his extradition in November 2007, going to great lengths to assure the Canadian government that Lai would not be tortured or executed on his return.
However, such assurances are controversial at home, where criminals have been executed for embezzling or misappropriating far less than Lai is accused of taking. Some Chinese commentators argue that the assurances contravene the fundamental principle of equality before the law.