Bill Boyd's business partners asked for immigration favour while he was still in cabinet

Bill Boyd, the former Saskatchewan economy minister who last year was found guilty of violating conflict of interest rules for his involvement with a Chinese immigration scheme, was asked on behalf of his partners in that schemefor an immigration-related favour while Boyd was still in cabinet.

Emails obtained through access to information show that on Aug.16, 2016, Boyd was asked to extend an official letter of invitation to four Chinese nationals considering immigration to Canada. Days later, on Aug. 23, 2016, Boyd resigned from cabinet.

The company that was involvedin the immigration scheme, Modern Hi-Efficiency, was establishedabout two months after that in November 2016. It was anirrigation company aimed at attracting would-be immigrant investorsto Saskatchewan.

For Ryan Meili, leader of the opposition SaskatchewanNDP, the revelation about the immigration letter request raises troubling questions.

"Given the pace at which that business [Modern Hi-Efficiency] popped up and Boyd's role popped up after leaving the cabinet it's really impossible to believe that was all done after he was minister of economy," said Meili.

In other words, Meili suspects Boyd was working on his private business plans while still in cabinet. He said if that's the case, its deeply concerning.

"You've got a cabinet minister advancing his own economic interests and using immigration to do so," Meili said.

How the immigration business got started

The timelineof Boyd's involvement in the establishment of Modern Hi-Efficiency is unclear.

Boyd has not answered any ofCBC'squestions about the company for this story, but his business partner Yonggang Yang offered some insight in an email from his lawyer.

"Bill Boyd somehow found out about [Yang's irrigation business] and approached Mr. Yang about a possible business relationship. Mr. Yang was to provide the irrigation equipment and Boyd was to find the customers (farmers/farmlands)," the email said.

The company was registered in early November 2016. By December 2016, Saskatchewan's Ministry of Agriculture already had drawings of the proposed irrigation project, including a series of pivots on land owned by Boyd's son.

A few months later, in March 2017, Boyd went to China looking for investors for the scheme.

"Mr. Yang's manager (Ning) went with Boyd to China where Boyd met with Chinese bankers, money men/women from insurance companies, and private investors," says the letter from Yang's lawyer.

In August 2017, CBCbroke the story of Boyd's involvement in Modern Hi-Efficiency.

• Bill Boyd promoting immigration scheme that would benefit company he's involved in

That led to an investigation by Saskatchewan's conflict of interest commissioner.

He found that Boyd was being presented to Chinese investors as the Minister of the Economy, even though he had resigned that post. Prospective investors were also falsely told the government of Saskatchewan endorsed the scheme.

At the end ofAugust 2017, Boyd was kicked out of the Saskatchewan Party caucus for his ethical violations.

• Bill Boyd booted from caucus over conflict of interest, legal action possible

Yang's lawyer said nothing ever came of Modern Hi-Efficiency and it is now defunct.

Emails reveal web of relationships

The first of two emails obtained through access to information was sent while Boyd was still in cabinet.

On Aug.10, 2016, Yang's right-hand-man Ning Xu wrote to William Wang, Director of Greater China for the Saskatchewan government, asking Wang to issue letters of invitation to four Chinese nationals considering immigration to Canada.

In the emailXu told Wang "President Yang has asked you to issue a letter of invitation to a media company inHeilongjiang," which is a province in China.

Xu provided a list of four names, dates of birth and passport numbers.

"As to the details of the itinerary, dates and purpose, you just ask president Yang," Xu instructed Wang.

On Aug.16, Wang forwardedXu'semail to Boyd's secretary.

Wang wrote, "As you may already know that Minister Boyd has agreed to issue invitation letter for this company."

NDP leader worries about possible abuse of office

Meili said this raises questions about Boyd's relationship to Wang.

"Was Wang used as an intermediary to advance the business interests of Xu, Yang and Boyd?" Meili asked.

The relationship between Boyd, Yang and Wang goes back almost a decade.

For years, Boyd and Wang regularly travelled to China on behalf of the Saskatchewan governmenton investment attraction trips.

They met Yang in China in 2009 and went for dinner with him to discuss Yang's Saskatchewan-based potash company,TaijiResources. Over the years, Boyd met with Yang on several more occasions aboutYang's potash venture.

Meili noted that last year, the government launched an investigation into Wang after CBC revealed that Wang had been talking with Boyd and Xu before their Modern Hi-Efficiency investment attraction trip to China last year. In addition, Wang took a trip to China just weeks before Boyd's March 2017trip.

The provincial government launched an investigation into Wang's involvement last spring. In a September 2018 statement to CBC, the government said, "We will not disclose particulars of this internal HR investigation, what I will say is that the investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing or a breach of the government's conflict of interest policy."

Meili said that given the questions around the relationship between Boyd and Wang, the government must be transparent and release the investigative report.

"We haven't seen anything or heard anything about the results of that investigation And we expected to have that information made public," he said.

Meili also asked why Yang's request for letters of invitation was being directly sent to the minister rather than through the public service.

"Is this a common practice? Do ministers commonly write letters for individuals letters of invitation?" Meili asked. "Do ministers commonly do so with people they're about to do business with?"

Neither the Premier's office nor Boyd responded to questions about these revelations.

Rather than reply to specific questions, the Premier's office took a more general approach, tellingCBCthat Boyd had been found to be "in violation of the Members Conflict of Interest Act in relation to his involvement with a Saskatchewan based agricultural irrigation business during his trip to Chinain March, 2017," and was removed from the Saskatchewan Party caucus. The Premier's office also said that a government review of William Wang's involvement in relation to that trip, "concluded that there was no evidence of wrong-doing or conflict of interest on the part of Mr. Wang."

Boyd's company brought would-be immigrants to Saskatchewan

According to a June 2017 post on Modern Hi-Efficiency's page on Wechat, a Chinese social media site, the company brought some potential investors to Saskatchewan from China.

The site has a photo of some Chinese people in an agricultural setting. The caption, translated from Mandarin, says "Harbin clients General Manager Liand General Manager Shi came to Saskatchewan and visited farmland transformation to irrigation."

One of the last names appears to match a last name from the list of people Boyd was asked to invite to Saskatchewan while he was still in cabinet.

Renbo Li was identified as the general manager of a digital publishing company from the province ofHeilongjiang, Harbin is the capital city of that province.

CBC asked Yang and Xu if the general manager Li from Harbin identified in the Wechat post was the same as general manager Renbo Li from Heilongjiang.

Yang's lawyer wrote an email after a conversation with Yang confirming the two Lis were the same person.

"Mr. Yang recognizes the photo," his lawyer wrote. "It was taken during Renbo Li's exploratory trip to Saskatchewan.It shows a photo of Mrs. Shi (the wife of Renbo Li). She is the woman in sunglasses on the left next to the dark vehicle. Mr. Li is also present but was behind and obscured by the third person from the left when the photo was taken."

The lawyer wrote that Mr. Li is a Chinese investor who is likely trying to come to the province under the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program, a program overseen by Boyd when he was the Minister of the Economy. The lawyer said that originally, Li was planning to set up a media business in the province but Yang spoke with him about investing in the irrigation business.

"Mr. Yang asked William [Wang] for (and received) an invitation letter so that Mr. Li could come to Saskatchewan to investigate business opportunities.Mr. Li came to Saskatchewan and apparently, he was unimpressed and decided to not invest."

Yang and Xu change their story

Later in that very same email, there are "corrections" to the previous information about Renbo Li.

Those corrections reverse many of the statements made in the lawyer's original summary without any explanation of the change. It's not clear why CBC was sent the lawyer's original summary and the "corrected" text in the same email.

While the original text says Yang recognized the photo on his Wechat site and could identify Renbo Li and his wife in the picture, the corrected answer says "Mr. Li in the photo is not Mr. Li Renbo Mr Li Renbo was not presented in the photo." The email went on to explain that it was a different Mr. Li and his wife in the picture.

It said that couple was interested in Modern Hi-Efficiency however "as they have not any experience in agriculture, Hi-Efficiency refused to do further cooperation with the couple."

The corrected text also said that Renbo Li had no connection to or interest in the irrigation business.

"Mr. Li was not for irrigation investment and immigration and he just visited Saskatchewan for media business investigation," the correction said. "Mr. Li visited Saskatchewan before Modern Hi-Efficiency was set up."

In a text message, Xu offered another correction. He said "I am not Mr. Yang's manager as he did not pay me."

A mysterious company connected to Boyd

While Modern Hi-Efficiency was the company established to run the irrigation business, another company established by Yang appears to have been offering jobs to Chinese people in an effort to bring them to Saskatchewan through the SINP.

In 2015, Yang established Blue River Capital Corp. as an investment company. The only shareholder in the company is Universe Investment Holding Ltd. Yang is the only shareholder in Universe and Xu is the secretary/treasurer.

On the Powerpoint presentation Modern Hi-Efficiency used to promote its program, the only contact email was contact@brcapitalcorp.com.

The name Blue River also popped up on the website of the China-based immigration company, Happy of Life, that had partnered with Boyd's Modern Hi-Efficiency company for its March 2017 seminar in China.

On Happy of Life's website, it had a section called "success cases" where it posted official government documents purporting to show the success some of its clients.

That site featured two official looking documents showing Blue River had two job offers to Chinese nationals approved by the Saskatchewan immigrant nominee program.

One of the nominations was for someone named Wei Shi.

Through his lawyer Yang said "any nomination of Mr. Shi is a forgery" suggesting the document obtained by CBCis not authentic.

His lawyer said Yang was troubled by this apparent deception.

"Mr. Yang wants to thank you for making him aware that his name is being used in vain. He wants me to get to the bottom of it and to pursue the perpetrator(s). Can you tell me where and when you got the info and who you suspect is behind this?"

CBC pointed out that the document was posted on the website of Yang's China-based partner Happy of Life.

Through his lawyer, Yang refused to respond to any more of CBC's questions. "I have to advise that Mr. Yang has instructed our office to cease communicating with you in respect to all matters concerning Mr. Yang and Blue River Capital Ltd.".

Before publishing this story, CBC asked the Premier's office how many Blue River SINP nominations the provincial government had approved. CBC provided the government two Blue River SINP documents. The government didn't answer that question.

After the story was published, the government said in an email that the Blue River applications were fraudulent.

"They are not authentic documents,' wrote a communications person. "They were not issued by the government of Saskatchewan."

Meili said all of this is leading him to conclude the public needs to know much more about what Boyd was doing while in office.

"We need to get to a full review of all of Mr Boyd's activities throughout his time as minister," he said. "People like William Wang and others that have worked with him need to be brought forward to testify in front of a committee and we need to be able to fully canvas what Mr Boyd was up to because everything he touches has this level of shadow over it now."

Timeline

August 10, 2016 - Ning Xu writes email to William Wang asking him to send letters of invitation to four people considering immigration to Canada.

August 12, 2016 - Bill Boyd announces he will resign from cabinet.

August 16, 2016 - William Wang forwards Ning Xu's request to Bill Boyd's secretary, writes "As you may already know that Minister Boyd has agreed to issue invitation letter for this company."

August 23, 2016 - Boyd's resignation from cabinet is official.

November 11, 2016 - Modern Hi-Efficiency Agriculture is registered.

December 2016 - The Ministry of Agriculture completes a drawing of Boyd's proposed irrigation project located on land owned by Boyd's son.

January 10, 2017 - Phone call between William Wang and Bill Boyd.

January 25, 2017 - Phone call between William Wang and Ning Xu.

February 1, 2017 - Phone call between William Wang and Bill Boyd.

February 20, 2017 - March 8, 2017 - Wang was in China on a government of Saskatchewan investment attraction trip.

March 18, 2017 - Bill Boyd and Ning Xu hold investment seminar in China.

June 13, 2017 - Modern Hi-Efficiency welcomes would-be immigrants to Saskatchewan for exploratory visit.

August 16, 2017 - CBC breaks the story about Boyd's immigration scheme.

August 28, 2017 -Conflict of Interest Commissioner rules against Boyd and Boyd is kicked out of the Saskatchewan Party caucus.

August 31, 2017 - Boyd resigns from politics.

Editor's Note:After publication, this story was updated reflecting new comment from the government, related to Blue River.