RCMP arrested Yantai Gan after a long investigation
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrested and charged an Agriculture and Agri-Food Employee in Swift Current, Sask.
On Nov. 19, 2019, RCMP executed search warrants at AAFC’s Research and Development Centre in Swift Current and at the home of now 65-year-old Dr. Yantai Gan following an investigation which started in February 2018, the RCMP said in a Dec. 10, 2021 release.
Dr. Gan made his first court appearance on Dec. 13.
He is charged with:
- Breach of Trust by Public Officer (punishable by up to five years imprisonment),
- Fraud over $5,000 (punishable by up to two years imprisonment or a $5,000 fine), and
- Possession of Proceeds of Crime (stolen property) over $5,000
The RCMP’s national security enforcement section led the investigation.
This division of the RCMP conducts investigations “into terrorist activities as needed in the antiterrorism provisions of the Criminal Code as well as any occurrence arising out of a threat to the security of Canada…,” the RCMP’s website says.
AAFC knew about the investigation.
"Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is aware of the charges and cooperated with the RCMP throughout the course of the investigation,” a spokesperson told Farms.com in an emailed statement. “The individual is no longer with AAFC. As the matter is now before the courts, no further comment will be made at this time.”
Dr. Gan grew up on a farm in China and studied agriculture in his homeland before coming to Canada.
He earned his MSc and PhD from the University of Manitoba. He completed his studies in 1994 and began working with AAFC in Swift Current the same year.
He is recognized internationally for his work developing cropping systems to increase productivity and profits for farmers while also decreasing environmental footprints.
Dr. Gan became a fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 2012. He’s also a fellow of the Crop Science Society of America and of the American Society of Agronomy.
And in 2019 he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) for his work with pulse crops.
“He invented pulse-based, ‘integrated suite’ of farming technologies,” RSC says on its Facebook page.
Dr. Gan isn’t the only AAFC employee to have police interaction recently.
The Brandon Police Service responded to a call in November after an employee at the Brandon Research and Development Centre brought guns to work.
The employee has proper firearms licensing and planned to clean the guns during his break, The Brandon Sun reported.
Police did not lay charges.
“He was educated about the workplace rules surrounding firearms,” Sgt. Kirby Sarasas told the Sun. “No one was threatened or harmed; no charges."
Royal Society of Canada/Facebook photo