A businessman from British Columbia and Alberta, Wentao Yang, who was instrumental in facilitating significant deals for Chinese investors to purchase Canadian oilpatch assets, is now the subject of a Canada-wide arrest warrant. This warrant was issued after Yang repeatedly failed to appear in court to face tax-evasion charges linked to these deals and the Panama Papers leak.
Initially, a bench warrant was issued for Yang in Alberta provincial court in December. This warrant was recently elevated to a Canada-wide warrant in Alberta’s Court of King’s Bench. According to the warrant, it seems that Yang is no longer residing in Canada.
Yang is facing nine charges brought forth by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in November. These charges include four counts of filing false or deceptive tax returns, three counts of tax evasion, and two counts of fraud. The charges allege that Yang manipulated his personal tax returns for 2015 and 2016, failing to disclose commissions earned from business deals. Additionally, Yang is accused of submitting false tax returns for a company he directed, Kailas Energy Corp.
The CRA asserts that Yang played a role in the acquisition of Canadian oil and gas assets by Chinese investor groups, failing to report consulting fees during the 2015 and 2016 taxation years. Transactions were structured to conceal fund sources through various transfers, including foreign bank accounts, before being deposited into Canadian accounts under Yang’s control.
Yang’s involvement in the Panama Papers investigation marked the first criminal inquiry by the CRA following the 2016 leak of financial records from offshore tax havens. The CRA conducted searches at Yang’s Calgary residence, a West Vancouver mansion, and his accountant’s office in Toronto in 2018 as part of this probe.
The CRA’s search warrant application contended that Yang evaded over $860,000 in income tax and GST on nearly $2.7 million from brokering a major Chinese investment in the oilpatch. Yang responded to media reports on the allegations, expressing his intent to address them.
Yang’s tax-evasion inquiry was triggered by the Panama Papers leak, which revealed how affluent individuals utilized offshore companies to conceal wealth. Yang’s offshore holdings were flagged by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), leading to the CRA’s investigation.
The probe unveiled Yang’s association with several Caribbean corporations, including Marquee Financial Services Inc. registered in the Cayman Islands, pivotal in a substantial oilpatch transaction in 2016. The $770-million deal, facilitated by Yang, involved Chinese investors acquiring Long Run Exploration, a struggling Calgary oil and gas producer.
Subsequently, the CRA alleged that funds from the acquisition were channeled to Marquee Financial, which transferred a portion to Yang’s TD Bank accounts as “consulting fees.” Despite receiving the funds, Yang purportedly failed to report them as income on his 2016 tax return.
Apart from this deal, Yang was involved in various resource asset acquisitions in Western Canada through different companies like Sequoia Resources Corp. and Rockyview Resources Inc. The Panama Papers also revealed Yang’s stake in multiple British Virgin Islands-registered companies and his directorship in other offshore entities disclosed in the 2013 OffshoreLeaks dataset.