Research scientist’s fraud, breach of trust charges stayed due to delay

Charges of fraud and breach of trust against an agriculture research scientist have been stayed after a judge ruled there have been unreasonable delays in bringing the case to trial.

Yantai Gan was arrested in Swift Current in November of 2019 following a 21-month-long police investigation. He was ultimately charged with breach of trust by a public officer, fraud over $5,000 and possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000.

According to court documents, investigators alleged that between Jan. 1, 2012 and June 30, 2018, Gan — while employed as a senior research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Swift Current — allegedly entered into contractual relationships without authorization with the Gansu Agricultural University in China and Barilla America, a subsidiary of Italy’s largest food producer.

It’s alleged he didn’t disclose those contracts to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, or the money he received from those organizations.

The document also contains allegations that Gan had recruited for or organized “an international research collaboration for Gansu Agricultural University,” that he had made travel requests or expense claims that were false, and that he failed to disclose a conflict of interest.

Early this year, the charges against Gan were stayed by a judge in Swift Current Court of King’s Bench. Gan’s trial was scheduled to start May 1.

The stay was the result of a 2016 Supreme Court of Canada judgment in the case of R v. Jordan. That decision set a presumptive ceiling of 30 months between charges and trial in order to protect the rights of the accused under section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That section guarantees that any person charged with a crime has a right to be tried within a reasonable time frame.

While some of the delays in Gan’s case were not included in the total calculation due to the circumstances, Justice T.J. Keene determined the total delay in bringing the case to trial was 30 1/2 months, falling just outside the time frame allowed in Jordan.

“In my view, Jordan sets a hard cap and even if this appears a close call, I must find in favour of the applicant, and not the Crown, particularly because of the Supreme Court of Canada’s clear decision in Jordan,” Keene said in his oral decision, a transcript of which was provided to 650 CKOM.

“I have determined that the remaining delay is 30 and a half months and this exceeds the presumptive ceiling set in law in the Superior Court, and the Crown has been unable to rebut this presumption.”

Keene directed a stay of the proceedings against Gan, and the trial was cancelled as a result.

In a media release from the time of Gan’s arrest, 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.”