A sure sign of moral hypocrisy is to do one thing for your friends and then quite the opposite for others.

This hypocrisy has been played out in the cases of two fugitives from Asia who have sought refuge in Canada after being accused of crimes in their homeland.

Has Canada's legal system been corrupted by China?

The other is Rodolfo Pacificador, an alleged political assassin from the Philippines.

Recently, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the case of Lai, paving the way for him and his family to be deported to China. As usual no reasons were given.

Lai and his family have been in the Vancouver area since 1999 fighting in a variety of judicial forums to stay in Canada.

The courts refused to believe that Lai, described by Beijing as it's most wanted man, risks torture, indefinite jail and possibly death upon his return.

They have refused to acknowledge that China has threatened Canada with trade and diplomatic ramifications if this guy is not sent home.

They did not want to see the letter that followed from Alan Rock, the former trade minister, to prosecutors in the Lai case warning them of dire consequences if Lai is not deported.

The courts do not seem to mind that China hoodwinked the Canadian diplomatic mission in Beijing and sent three of their spies disguised as trade officials to Vancouver to threaten Lai and his family.

They have glossed over statements by expert witness Jerome Cohen of New York University who was brought in by Immigration Canada and the Chinese Communist Party to show that Lai will get a fair trial when sent home.

Cohen embarrassed the people who paid him because he writes that China's justice system is corrupt, abused by its leaders who have already declared Lai guilty even before he is officially charged in China, gives no rights to suspects, holds secret trials and threatens defence lawyers.

And if that is not enough, the U.S. State Department ranks China's criminal justice system as one of the worst in the world adding for good measure that witnesses rarely appear in court, illegally-obtained evidence is often admitted in practice and that suspects are frequently subjected to punishment.

So what do our wigged wonders do

They ignore the volume of disgusting evidence and decree Lai has to be deported to China, days before Beijing's top dog Hu Jintao comes to Canada to cement C$30 billion worth of trade with our political establishment.

For some reason, and you can guess why, the reverse has happened in the case of Pacificador, who is from the Philippines--a not so "big friend" in Asia.

The same Supreme Court of Canada refused to extradite Pacificador who is jointly charged with his father and several others for killing political opponents.

They agreed with a Lower court that sending Pacificador home to face charges would violate his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"All evidence points to the likelihood that the extraditee would be tortured and jailed indefinitely without trial," wrote the judges in a decision that outraged Manila.

The Canadian courts said extraditing Pacificador would expose him to a legal system whose conduct "shocks the conscience."

In the Pacificador case, the judges believed the U.S. State Department report which said the Filipino justice system was encrusted with corruption and inefficiency.

The report, which devoted about 30 pages to the Philippines, pointed to arbitrary, unlawful and, in some cases, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention.

Physical abuse of suspects and detainees remains a problem, as do police, prosecutorial and judicial corruption, the report said.

The section on China in the same report, which was dismissed by our judges in the Lai case and the section on the Philippines which was accepted in the Pacficador case are similar in their conclusions.

But our judges have decided to be selective.

In the Lai case, our judges have accepted the assurance from China's rulers that Lai will be given a fair trial upon his return and not face the death penalty.

That same assurance from the President of the Philippines for Pacificador was not believed.

These shameless inconsistencies by our judges make a mockery of the Canadian justice system.

It shows that Canadian justice can be partitioned according to a person's country of origin.

But worst of all these two cases when put side-by-side begs the question--Has Canada's legal system been corrupted by China

For related story, click here: Guess Hu's coming to town