这次赖昌星是否玩完？

2006年，赖昌星曾面临绝境，当时风传他即将被遣返，甚至说加拿大政府连他的飞机票都准备好了。当时着急的不仅是他，还有一位叫李萍的东北女子，声称赖昌星在温哥华骗了她的百万钱财，眼见得赖昌星就要消失，李萍情急之下，戴着个大口罩出现在世人面前，揪住赖的脖子逼他还钱。

是所谓的风险评估救了赖昌星，因为中国的死刑制度可能会要了他的命，或者他会在中国受到虐待，加拿大方面要对他的性命安危负责。

当时赖昌星心灰意懒，甚至把在加拿大做农民作为自己的一大愿望。

一眨眼5年过去，期间赖昌星一度拿到了工作许可，做起了地产经纪的助理，戴着大口罩的李萍也不见了下文。

7月7日下午1点，加拿大边境服务局（CBSA）再度拘押赖昌星，并把他关在位于高贵林的羁留中心，48小时聆讯于11日下午1时到5时半进行。据环球华网报道，加拿大移民暨难民局裁判官李安·金（Leeann King）在传召加拿大边境服务局官员布思罗伊德（Kevin Boothroyd）和图斯（Daniel Tucci）及听取移民部代表律师和赖昌星代表律师拉森（Darrell Larson）双方陈词后决定，7月12日下午1时再度开庭，宣布裁决结果，决定是否继续扣押赖昌星，或准其有条件假释。

环球华网称，移民部的代表在庭上表示，由于移民部对赖昌星的第二份遣返前风险评估已经完成，联邦法庭将会在7月21日开庭审理赖案，如果22日法庭裁决有结果，否决赖的延期遣返理由，移民部最快会于7月25日将赖昌星遣返回中国。边境服务局认为，目前离遣返日期不足14天，为防赖昌星潜逃，所以予以拘捕，等候联邦法庭裁决。

移民部代表在庭上指赖昌星涉嫌违反有关假释的条款，并与有组织犯罪的人有接触联系。聆讯庭传召加拿大边境服务局调查执法专员沙普卡（Cheryl Shapka）出庭作证。沙普卡回答了双方律师对赖昌星的一些违犯条律行为的提问。她指赖虚报其住处地址，以及与放高利贷者，2009年被谋杀的阿施有电话间的频繁接触，赖昌星女友林萍萍和其儿子赖明明在新西敏市的星光赌场（Starlight Casino）为在场的第三人进行了15万加币的值得怀疑的大数额现金交易等。

移民部另一代表图斯（Daniel Tucci）则向当日裁判官李安·金（Leeann King）提出若赖此次被获准有条件假释移民部的具体条件，其中包括赖昌星必须每天向边境服务局报到；每日的下午5点至次日上午10时必须留在其住处（除紧急医疗情况）；只可使用一种通讯工具，必须让边境服务局24小时能随时找到；向边境服务局提供任何到其住处访问接触的人的资料信息并提早24小时报告；允许边境局人员进到其居所内以便更好监控赖是否有遵循相关假释条例；同时移民局还提出赖昌星只能呆在温哥华市范围之内，不得到机场、火车站等处。

移民部代表指出，若联邦法庭在25日宣布遣返计划推迟，同意赖延期留加，再考虑是否能放宽以上条件。

下面是加拿大《环球邮报》的报道：

Fugitive from China wins interim stay of deportation
ROD MICKLEBURGH
VANCOUVER— From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Jul. 11, 2011 4:00PM EDT

Lai Changxing, long considered one of China’s most wanted fugitives, faces deportation to the People’s Republic later this month, after his dramatic arrest late last week by Canadian border services agents.

In a brief conversation at an immigration detention hearing Monday, Mr. Lai said the agents swooped in on his downtown Vancouver residence about 1 p.m. last Thursday and bundled him into custody.

He entered the hearing room with his customary grin, hands bound by yellow handcuffs and wearing the normal red prison garb of the North Fraser Pretrial Centre, where he is being held.

Mr. Lai was arrested after Immigration Canada – following four years of deliberation – determined that he is not at risk of being tortured if he is sent back to China.

The good-humoured, one-time high-roller is charged with masterminding an extensive smuggling network that imported consumer goods into the bustling port of Xiamen without paying custom duties, during a wild period of Chinese commerce in the 1990s. He is also accused of bribing government and police officials to look the other way.

He had been scheduled to be sent back on a flight to China as early as Tuesday afternoon. However, Mr. Lai won an interim stay of deportation Monday morning, giving him a chance to argue for a longer stay in a one-day Federal Court hearing July 21.

If Mr. Lai loses that appeal, the tentative date for his return is July 25, said Canadian Border Services Agency representative Kevin Boothroyd.

It would be the end of his prolonged legal fight to remain in Canada, which has lasted more than 10 years.

At issue is the possibility of torture by his Chinese jailers.

In 2007, a Federal Court judge overturned a previous Immigration Canada finding that Mr. Lai faced no risks back in China.

Mr. Justice Yves de Montigny referred to many outside reports attesting to the use of torture on prisoners in China, including one by a UN special rapporteur on torture who had visited the country.

The judge ordered a new risk assessment, with more emphasis on the risk of torture.

The four years it has taken to issue a second risk assessment is believed to be unprecedented. It likely reflects Canadian attempts to negotiate increased safeguards for Mr. Lai.

Earlier this year, Chinese authorities agreed to give Canadian officials regular access to Mr. Lai in prison, as a way of ensuring he is not tortured.

However, his arrest comes at a time when China is taking an increasingly hard line on human rights and judicial niceties, with many lawyers of high-profile defendants being jailed.

Mr. Lai has been fighting deportation since he was first arrested at a casino in Niagara Falls in November, 2000, arguing that he cannot get a fair trial in China and he is at risk of being mistreated in custody.

His continued residence in Canada has been a sore point with Chinese leaders, one of whom, then-prime minister Zhu Rongji, said he should be executed three times over.

In an interview two years ago with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Lai admitted skirting the law, but said he was merely taking advantage of perceived loopholes at a time of murky custom regulations.

Immigration and Refugee Board member Leeann King said she would rule Tuesday on whether he should remain in custody while waiting for his July 21 court hearing.

Mr. Boothroyd of the CBSA called on the board to leave Mr. Lai in jail, pointing out a deportation date was fast approaching and he might be tempted to flee.

He also reiterated earlier allegations that Mr. Lai had associated with members of the so-called Big Circle Boys organized crime gang.

Mr. Lai’s lawyer, Darryl Larson, argued that his client had been free for many years without problems, and the so-called association with alleged criminals had not previously prompted the CBSA to seek his arrest.

《温哥华太阳报》报道：

China's top fugitive arrested, faces possible deportation from Canada

China's most wanted fugitive — who has been living in Canada for more than 10 years, fighting deportation — could be sent home later this month.

Lai Changxing was arrested at his Greater Vancouver home Thursday and was facing removal Tuesday before his lawyer won him a stay of his deportation.

An Immigration Canada official determined, after four years of deliberation, that Canada does have adequate assurances that Lai — accused of running an extensive $10-billion smuggling operation — would not be tortured or arbitrarily executed in China.

A Federal Court judge in Vancouver granted his application for the stay on Monday.

At a hearing scheduled for July 21, lawyer David Matas said he will argue the assurances Canada has secured from the Chinese government are inadequate and Lai should be allowed to remain in Canada.

"Torture and arbitrary execution are quite common in China," Matas told the Vancouver Province from his Winnipeg office on Monday.

"A number of people in the case have died in prison with unexplained causes. A number of people have already been tortured in the case."

Matas said of the 15 people already sentenced to death for their roles in the case, "eight or nine" have been executed.

"His brother died in prison and his accountant died in prison," said Matas.

"He fears a similar fate."

Lai is the alleged ringleader.

"Another concern is that he wouldn't get a fair trial because the government has basically decided he's guilty," said Matas.

"In my view, (the assurances are) inadequate," said Matas.

Convincing a Chinese court he is not guilty will be tough for Lai. Matas said Lai "was taking advantage of the law and the enforcement as it existed at the time.

"The whole is system is kind of vague and arbitrary," he added.

Matas said Lai is being scapegoated in a bogus public relations exercise to try to convince the Chinese people that their government is tough on corruption.

"The government is not elected, so there's a lot of concern about corruption," said Matas.

"The way they deal with it is they tend to prosecute people who are not very well connected.

"Mr. Lai wasn't well enough connected. (The Chinese authorities) certainly don't want to go after their own, so they go after these outliers who are not their own," said Matas.

"He's their No. 1 fugitive because they have made him their No. 1 fugitive."