South China Morning Post

Update: A Canadian Tribunal has ruled that China’s allegations against Michael Ching have not been established, putting him on the path to Canadian citizenship.

The article you searched was the subject of a defamation claim by Michael Ching against the SCMP, resolved by a settlement requiring readers to acknowledge subsequent Canadian developments.

To read more about those developments, click here.

Click here to acknowledge you’ve read this update.

Back to SCMP.com
Advertisement
Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign
ChinaPeople & Culture

Exclusive | Chinese graft fugitive Cheng Muyang, now a Canada property mogul, seeks refugee status

Vancouver property magnate, unveiled as mainlander on the run from graft-busters, has hired same lawyer as smuggler Lai Changxing

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Michael Ching Mo Yeung (right) and Opus Hotel Corp president John Evans, toast the agreement to create an Opus hotel in Ching's International Trade Centre development near the Vancouver International Airport, in this image posted to Twitter by Evans on December 16. Photo: Twitter
Ian Youngin Vancouver

UPDATE: Michael Ching Mo Yeung has commenced legal proceedings against South China Morning Post in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.  Mr Ching alleges in his lawsuit that this article contains false and defamatory statements, and that the conduct of South China Morning Post and its reporter was malicious, reprehensible, high-handed, and blameworthy.

Chinese corruption fugitive Cheng Muyang - who has been identified as Vancouver property developer Michael Ching Mo Yeung – is seeking refugee status in Canada as he seeks to evade mainland authorities.

Federal Court documents show that rejected refugee claimant Ching Mo Yeung has hired renowned human rights lawyer David Matas, who also represented smuggler Lai Changxing. Michael Ching uses “Mo Yeung” as his Chinese given name, according to documents related to land redevelopment in British Columbia and is the president and founder of Mo Yeung International Enterprise Ltd, a major Vancouver real estate firm. “Ching Mo Yeung” is the Cantonese variant of “Cheng Muyang”, the name under which he is being sought by Interpol.
Advertisement

Lai also claimed refugee status in Canada in a last-ditch bid to thwart mainland authorities; he failed, and is now serving a life sentence in China.

The South China Morning Post revealed yesterday that Cheng Muyang was Michael Ching.  Photographs of Ching from 2011 show the same facial features seen on the man in an Interpol Red Notice, including a distinctive mole on the right eyebrow ridge. The Post’s findings were confirmed by Guo Guangyun, a former mid-ranking official who spent years exposing the Cheng family’s corruption.
Advertisement
Michael Ching Mo Yeung (left), pictured in 2011, and the image of Cheng Muyang that accompanies an Interpol Red Notice seeking his arrest. Note the identical mole on the right eyebrow ridge. Photos: SCMP Pictures
Michael Ching Mo Yeung (left), pictured in 2011, and the image of Cheng Muyang that accompanies an Interpol Red Notice seeking his arrest. Note the identical mole on the right eyebrow ridge. Photos: SCMP Pictures
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x