A former Hydro-Québec employee accused of spying for China entered a not guilty plea Friday to two new charges brought against him in February.
His lawyers have also tried to obtain more evidence in his case.
Yuesheng Wang appeared Friday at the Longueuil courthouse to answer two other charges brought by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) under the Protection of Information Act. He is now also accused of committing preparatory acts on behalf of a foreign entity and informing that entity — the People’s Republic of China — of his intentions.
In November 2022, Mr. Wang became the first person charged with economic espionage under Canada’s Information Security Act. He was then charged with four counts: obtaining industrial secrets, fraud for obtaining industrial secrets, breach of trust by a public official and unauthorized use of a computer.
The federal prosecutor in the case, Marc Cigana, explained to reporters Friday that the two new charges were added after a closer review of the evidence and facts already collected in this case.
The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Team opened an investigation in August 2022 after receiving a complaint from Hydro-Québec’s Corporate Security Department.
The RCMP allege that Mr. Wang relayed information about Hydro-Québec to a Chinese university and Chinese research centers. He would also have published scientific articles and filed patents with them rather than with the Quebec state corporation.
The RCMP also alleges that Mr. Wang used information without the consent of Hydro-Québec, thereby infringing the intellectual property of his former employer, Hydro’s Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage. -Quebec, in Varennes, in Montérégie.
Prosecutor Cigana told the court on Friday that the crux of the case concerned requests Mr. Wang allegedly made to Beijing to participate in the “Thousand Talents” program — a recruitment tool used by the Chinese government to attract trained scientists to foreigner to return to work in China.
Me Cigana argued Friday that based on the Crown’s interpretation of his application documents to participate in the program, Mr. Wang appears to have promised to transfer the technology to the People’s Republic of China.
Battery materials
Recruited by Hydro-Québec in 2016, Mr. Wang, a Chinese national holding a work visa, was released under several conditions, including that of surrendering his Chinese passport, accepting GPS tracking and reporting to the GRC every week.
The researcher worked on battery materials at Hydro-Québec’s Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage. The center develops technologies for electric vehicles and energy storage systems.
Hydro-Quebec fired him in November 2022 and police arrested him, fearing he would flee the country.
Mr. Wang, a Candiac resident, denied the accusations and said he intended to fight to clear his name. He told the court that the inside information he allegedly sent was not secret and was “open source”.
On Friday, his lawyers demanded access to 78,000 email exchanges found on the computers that the accused used when he worked at Hydro-Québec. The state-owned company has refused access to information since last April, lamented defense lawyer Gary Martin. He told reporters his client had the right to obtain the emails and needed them to mount an adequate defense.
The Crown does not have these documents, said Mr.e Cigana, adding that the defense had not convincingly explained why it needed it.
The prosecutor recalled that the RCMP had obtained a court order to obtain the results of Hydro-Québec’s internal investigation. He wonders why the defense now wants to obtain all the emails of a certain number of individuals who communicated with Mr. Wang at Hydro-Québec.
The court is expected to hear further arguments in early May.