Canada has revoked a ban which prevented disgraced former Stock Exchange chairman Ronald Li Fook-shiu from entering the country, two years after deporting him. Mr Li's submission to the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa had been successful and 'admissible status' had been granted, his lawyer Henry Hui Kau-see told the South China Morning Post last night. Immigration adjudicators had ordered the businessman, sentenced to four years in jail in 1990 for accepting bribes, to leave Canada in September 1994 because of his criminal record. Mr Li, 66, who has substantial business interests in Canada, began living in Toronto in April 1994, following his release from Stanley Prison after serving 30 months. He was deported five months later. But the Federal Court this month decided the senior immigration officer who ordered Mr Li's deportation had erred in his interpretation of immigration laws and regulations. 'Basically, the new judgment says Mr Li's conviction in Hong Kong is not equivalent to the offence in Canada,' Mr Hui said. 'Therefore, Mr Li should not be excluded from Canada and should not be found inadmissible.' Lawyer Lorne Waldman had already submitted an application for a minister's permit - equivalent to visitors' visa - on behalf of Mr Li and his wife Irene, and it was expected to arrive in less than 45 days. Although Mr Li had won the case, he had no intention of seeking 'landed immigrant' status, Mr Hui said. The visitor's visa would help him take care of his many investments in Canada. Mr Li was holidaying somewhere in Southeast Asia, and was pleased with the result of the two-year appeal but it 'was not totally unexpected'.
