Meng Wanzhou leaves the courtroom at the end of the hearing on March 1.
On Monday (March 1), the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver, Canada, opened the final round of hearings in the extradition case against huawei‘s finance director Meng Wanzhou, with documents previously sent to the court by Meng’s legal team showing that they will present four major arguments, and the round is expected to last until May.
On the morning of March 1, defense lawyers testified that HSBC had long known about the relationship between Huawei and Hong Kong-based Skycom. Meng’s defence lawyer, Frank Addario, argued that the U.S. provided a misleading account to the BC Supreme Court. He asked the judge to admit sworn testimony, including emails and bank account information, into evidence at Meng’s extradition hearing, scheduled for May.
The U.S. accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Starcom to sell prohibited telecommunications equipment to Iran. The U.S. alleges Meng misled HSBC by providing false information during a PowerPoint presentation to HSBC executives in Hong Kong in August 2013. Based on the evidence obtained, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York filed 13 charges against Huawei and Meng, who was charged with four counts, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud.
Meng’s lawyers said that the U.S. judiciary said in the indictment that Meng lied to HSBC, saying that Hong Kong Starcom had been sold to Canicula, but the fact is that HSBC is well aware of the relationship between Canicula, Starcom and Huawei, and the HSBC risk committee and HSBC senior management did not need to make a decision based on Meng’s The HSBC risk committee and HSBC executives do not need to make decisions based on Meng’s “lies”. One of the evidence is that since 2011, Huawei in the HSBC bank account list, there are 2 accounts named Skycom and Canicula, he hopes the judge admitted this evidence.
Huawei recently took legal action in the UK and Hong Kong to obtain documents from HSBC related to Meng’s PowerPoint presentation to HSBC back then, in an attempt to find possible favorable information to exonerate her. However, the British court rejected Meng’s application for HSBC documents on Feb. 19.
On February 25, Meng’s legal team continued to move to the Hong Kong High Court, applying to the court for a third-party disclosure order requiring HSBC to disclose Huawei-related documents for use in the extradition hearing.
In response to the evidence provided by the defense lawyers, the prosecution lawyers emphasized that this is an extradition case and that the BC Court judge’s authority is only to rule on whether to extradite Meng, while the series of evidence provided by the defense lawyers is a defense against Meng’s fraud allegations and an attempt to force the judge to go beyond his “limited role” under the law.
The 4 main points of this round of hearings
According to documents previously sent to the court by Meng’s lawyers, they will make four major arguments, including, first, that the United States used Meng for political and economic gain during the administration of former President Trump. Second, that the U.S. and Canada have persistently violated Meng’s constitutional rights. Third, the U.S. Department of Justice deliberately misled Canada by providing documents about Meng’s case to Canadian courts. Fourth, the U.S. alleges and requests Meng’s extradition in violation of international law, as there is no connection between Meng’s alleged conduct and the United States.
Radio Free Asia reports that, according to historical experience, the probability of being released as a result of an extradition hearing is very rare, so some lawyers say it will be very difficult for Meng’s legal team to win, but after all the legal procedures, if Meng still loses the case, the Canadian justice minister still has the right to decide to terminate the extradition.
Michael Byers, an international law expert at the University of British Columbia (UBC), said in an interview with the CBC that Meng’s lawyers are unlikely to prove that the U.S. Justice Department was subject to political interference from Trump, and that their greater chances of winning may be in the part where Meng’s constitutional rights were violated. Also, the possibility of the Biden administration withdrawing its extradition request cannot be ruled out.
On March 3, the BC Supreme Court will continue to hold hearings on Meng’s extradition case.
Canadian Prime Minister: will not be pressured to release Meng
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently reiterated in an interview with NBC that Canada will not be pressured to release Meng because China (the Chinese Communist Party) has detained two Canadian citizens. He noted that the two Canadians were arrested on trumped-up charges and have been held for nearly 800 days, and that the Chinese Communist Party is “trying to pressure us to release this executive.” He stressed, “We are a nation of laws. We will not do that.”
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