a working permit and worked at a Vancouver real-estate company as a consultant. Charges Despite Lai's departure for Canada, the Chinese government continued to pursue charges against him, and sought his extradition. In the same corruption case, one of the largest in modern Chinese history, many high-level municipal and provincial officials were sacked and a few were sentenced to life in prison or death. The complex smuggling case shifted the entire political scene in Fujian by the late 1990s. A special task force operation was created by the government to track down Lai on April 20, 1999, called "4.20" (420专案组) with about 1200 investigators. Lai denied criminal wrongdoing, and stated that the allegations were politically motivated. Others like Pierre Lemieux defended Lai, saying he is only a criminal because of China's communist economic system and that with a free market, there would be no need for smugglers like Lai. Chinese websites could write about Lai as long as he was depicted as evil. One of Lai's attorneys, Winnipeg lawyer David Matas, said that it was doubtful Lai could ever get a fair trial in China, given the extent of the Communist Party's influence in the opaque judicial system. Matas has filed for an assessment of whether Lai's family are at risk if they are returned to China. As long as immigration officials are considering this request, he says, they may not be removed from Canada. Nevertheless, Lai has repeatedly been denied political refugee status in Canada, for example by a ruling in September 2005 by the Supreme Court in Ottawa, Ontario. This affirmed the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal, which in April had refused to hear Lai's appeal of the June 2002 Refugee Board decision, on the grounds that Lai and his wife failed to meet the standards to be designated as refugees. Canada does not have the death penalty and is prohibited from deporting accused criminals to countries where they will face capital punishment. China claimed that he would not be executed if extradited from Canada. Canadian courts did not believe this guarantee, due to certain CPC bias in any trial and as 14 others involved in the complex Xiamen racket have already been executed. Svend Robinson, then New Democratic Party member of parliament for Burnaby-Douglas, also noted that Lai's brother died in a Fujian labour-camp after receiving a lesser sentence. The likelihood of a de facto