A former Canadian Space Agency engineer was acquitted Friday of breach of trust charges relating to his dealings with a Chinese aerospace company while he was employed by the federal agency.
Wanping Zheng, 63, expressed his relief on Friday after the decision of Judge Marc-Antoine Carette, of the Court of Quebec in Longueuil, on the South Shore of Montreal.
A resident of Brossard, he was accused of using his position to act on behalf of the Chinese aerospace company Spacety.
Justice Carette said Friday in his judgment read from the bench that while Mr. Zheng’s actions certainly merited disciplinary measures, the Crown had failed at trial to prove that he had committed a criminal act.
For the judge, it is clear that Mr. Zheng made numerous errors of judgment and that his actions clearly constitute numerous disciplinary offenses.
But he added that the court was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Zheng’s conduct constituted criminal negligence — in other words, a marked departure from the conduct expected of a reasonable person occupying the same position of trust.
Hired after his resignation
The Crown alleged at trial that Mr. Zheng acted as an intermediary for the Chinese company Spacety by contacting two Canadian space companies to do business with it. The alleged offenses allegedly took place between July 2018 and May 2019.
Wanping Zheng did not testify at trial, but the Crown entered into evidence the statement he made to police in 2021, after his arrest, in which he defended his actions. He then maintained that he had only wanted to help the two Canadian companies by putting them in contact with the Chinese firm.
Mr. Zheng had not disclosed these transactions to officials at the Canadian Space Agency, where he worked for 25 years.
The court heard Mr Zheng was not compensated by Spacety when he contacted the Canadian companies. But after his resignation from the Canadian Space Agency in September 2019, while looking for a new job, he was hired by Spacety to establish the Chinese company in Luxembourg.
Wanping Zheng’s lawyer, Andrew Barbacki, told reporters after the verdict that the proceedings had been very stressful for his client. “I don’t believe he did anything criminal and the judge said so. »
Prosecutor Marc Cigana said his office would study the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.
But he said if the Crown had thought it was simply an “error of judgment,” the Public Prosecution Service of Canada would not have laid criminal charges.