Michael Spavor is reportedly seeking millions of dollars from Ottawa because he was detained in China for more than 1,000 days, according to information published by the Globe and Mail on Saturday.
Two confidential sources have confirmed to this daily that negotiations are underway in Toronto between Michael Spavor’s lawyers and the Canadian Ministry of Justice and Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Spavor passed information about North Korea to Michael Kovrig, who then passed it on to intelligence agencies without Mr. Spavor’s knowledge, English-language media said. According to the Globe and Mail, this is the origin of China’s espionage allegations against these two Canadian citizens.
Radio-Canada was unable to confirm this information.
However, Global Affairs Canada responded that promoting this idea only fuels Beijing’s baseless theory that led to her detention.
In an emailed statement, the ministry reiterated that the detention of the two men was arbitrary and unacceptable.
These two men endured an incredibly difficult ordeal and demonstrated strength, endurance, resilience and dignity every day of their arbitrary detention. They inspired all of Canada and we as a country collectively breathed a sigh of relief when they returned home, as we can also read in this message.
Global Affairs Canada also mentions that for confidentiality reasons, no further information may be shared.
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Meng Wanzhou was cheered by the crowd on the tarmac at Shenzhen International Airport as she returned to China. (archive photo)
Photo: Xinhua via Portal
The two Canadians found themselves at the center of a diplomatic-judicial saga after Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s financial director, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in December 2018 at the request of American authorities.
The daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecommunications giant has been accused of lying to avoid American sanctions against Iran, an offense punishable by more than 30 years in prison in the United States.