Accused smuggling kingpin Lai Changxing, one of China's most wanted fugitives, gestures while talking to media outside his residence in Vancouver, British Columbia June 1, 2006. A Canadian judge agreed to delay his deportation while he challenges a ruling by Canadian immigration officials. [Reuters]

The Canada Border Service Agency has been poised to remove Lai on May 26, but the judge's order stayed deportation at least until a federal court rules if it will hear his latest legal challenge.

Federal Judge Carolyn Layden-Stevenson said Lai faced ¡°irreparable harm¡± if deported now, because it was unlikely that China would allow him to come back to Canada, if Lai eventually won the Canadian court case.

Lai is accused of masterminding a multibillion-dollar operation that bribed officials and police to avoid taxes and duties on goods ranging from fuel to cigarettes smuggled into China's coastal Fujian province in the 1990s.

Lai is put under house arrest in Vancouver and has denied wrongdoing. Canadian immigration officials have rejected Lai's attempts to get political asylum.

Canada says it has received diplomatic assurances from China that Lai will not be executed if returned and convicted.

Canada, which does not have capital punishment, has traditionally refused to deport accused and convicted criminals to countries where they face execution.