Former space agency engineer acquitted

Man was accused of acting on behalf of a Chinese firm

A former Canadian Space Agency engineer was acquitted Friday on a breach of trust charge over his dealings with a Chinese aerospace company while in the federal agency’s employ.

Wanping Zheng, 63, expressed relief after the ruling by Quebec court Judge Marc-Antoine Carette in Longueuil, Que., south of Montreal.

Zheng, a resident of the Montreal suburb of Brossard, Que., was accused of using his position to act on behalf of Chinese aerospace company Spacety.

Carette read his ruling aloud in court, saying that while Zheng’s actions certainly warranted disciplinary measures, the Crown failed to prove he committed a crime.

“It is clear that Mr. Zheng made many errors of judgment, his actions clearly constitute many disciplinary faults,” Carette said. But as to whether Zheng’s behaviour constituted criminal negligence or a “marked departure” from the standard expected of someone in his position, Carette said the court had reasonable doubts.

The Crown alleged that Zheng had acted as a middle man for the Chinese firm by contacting two Canadian space companies to do business with it. The alleged infractions took place between July 2018 and May 2019. Notably, he contacted Ewan Reid, CEO of Mission Control Space Services, to discuss the construction of a satellite ground station in Iceland on behalf of Spacety. Reid had close ties to the Nordic island country.

During the discussions, it became clear to Reid there wasn’t much work for his company and that Zheng was more interested in his ties to Iceland. He told the court he had reservations about offending Zheng, a high-ranking engineer with the space agency, a key client of his company. Zheng also contacted Kepler Communications, a Canadian satellite firm about a business opportunity with Spacety involving the building and launching of 50 satellites. He did not disclose his actions to the space agency, where he was employed for 25 years. The court heard that the federal agency required Zheng to disclose and document all his contacts.

As well, officials at the agency had highlighted Zheng’s difficulty with the notion of a conflict of interest. They said they had to brief him repeatedly about being careful about his interactions.

Zheng took a leave of absence in December 2018 after the CSA opened an internal probe into his behaviour. He left the CSA altogether in September 2019. In the days that followed his exit, the agency contacted the RCMP, who charged him in 2021.

Prosecutor Marc Cigana said his office will study the ruling before it decides whether to appeal.

The Crown alleged that

Wanping Zheng, 63, had acted as a middle man for Chinese aerospace company Spacety by contacting two Canadian space companies to do business with it