A former Hydro-Québec employee who is facing charges related to sending trade secrets to China has been granted bail.
As conditions of his release, Wang must surrender his passport, carry a cellphone at all times so his location is known, and put up his two properties as a guarantee, reported The Canadian Press.
Federal prosecutor Marc Cigana had previously opposed his release, citing concerns that he would flee the country.
“It’s our opinion that, after studying all the circumstances and the evidence, that Mr. Wang is a flight risk; in other words, it’s a first ground objection for bail that he will not come back to court and face the proceedings,” said Cigana after the court hearing on Nov. 15.
Wang has denied that he is a flight risk and said he will remain in Canada to fight the charges.
RCMP has alleged that Wang conducted research for Chinese research centres and a Chinese university and that he published scientific articles and filed patents with the Chinese institutions rather than with Hydro-Québec, which the police said are “detriment of Canada’s economic interests.”
The police also allege he used information without his employer’s consent, harming the utility company’s intellectual property.
Hydro-Québec said it has cooperated with the police and national security enforcement team, which launched an investigation this August after receiving a complaint from the utility company’s security branch.
Wang had worked as a researcher at the Quebec government-owned hydro utility since October 2016, according to his profile on ResearchGate. Before that, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arkansas and a visiting researcher at Queen Mary University of London. He studied at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing between 2010 and 2016.
