Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientist facing charges in Swift Current

Details are scarce, but an internationally renowned agriculture scientist is facing charges in Swift Current.

Yantai Gan, whom the Royal Society of Canada said in a Facebook post “invented pulse-based, ‘integrated suite’ of farming technologies,” was arrested by the RCMP in November of 2019 after a 21-month investigation.

Gan, a 65-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., was employed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the time of his arrest. According to the Government of Canada, he was a senior research scientist based in Swift Current.

He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2019.

In a media release, the RCMP said a search warrant was executed at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s offices in Swift Current on Nov. 19, 2019 after an investigation led by the RCMP’s National Security Enforcement Section (NSES). A search warrant also was executed at a residence in Swift Current that same day.

According to the RCMP website, officers from the NSES and related units “undertake national security criminal investigations into terrorist activities as needed in the antiterrorism provisions of the Criminal Code as well as any occurrence arising out of a threat to the security of Canada, under the Security Offenses Act.”

The Mounties said those units investigate offences arising from:

• Activities within or relating to Canada directed toward or in support of the threat or use of acts of serious violence against persons or property for the purpose of achieving a political, or religious or ideological objective within Canada or a foreign state;
• Espionage or sabotage that is against Canada or is detrimental to the interests of Canada;
• Foreign-influenced activities within or relating to Canada that are detrimental to the interests of Canada and are clandestine or deceptive or involve a threat to any person;
• An occurrence where the victim is an Internationally Protected Person;
• The unlawful release of sensitive or classified information dealing with National Security; and,
• Terrorist financing investigations.

Gan was charged with breach of trust by a public officer, fraud over $5,000 and possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000. He’s to make his next court appearance in Swift Current Provincial Court on Monday.

It’s unclear if anyone else has been charged after the investigation.

The RCMP also didn’t provide any details as to why it took more than two years to issue the media release about Gan’s arrest or the circumstances around his detention.

A person at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada facility in Swift Current referred all questions to the national office in Ottawa.