Lawyer questions RCMP officer who arrested Meng in extradition case
VANCOUVER
The RCMP officer who arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou three hours after she was detained at Vancouver’s airport says he didn’t arrest her sooner out of respect for the jurisdiction of the Canada
Border Services Agency.
Const. Winston Yep testified in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday in the extradition case of Meng, whose lawyers are trying to show her arrest two years ago was unlawful and she should not be extradited to the U.S. on allegations of fraud.
The witnesses called to testify in court this week have been requested by Meng’s defence team, which hopes to gather evidence for arguments it will make next year that she was subjected to an abuse of process.
The defence has alleged there was a “co-ordinated strategy” to have the RCMP delay her arrest so border officials could question Meng under the pretence of a routine immigration exam.
It’s one of several allegations of wrongdoing that Meng’s team is lodging against the RCMP and the CBSA, along with accusations they kept intentionally poor notes and failed to arrest her immediately according to the warrant’s requirements.
Defence lawyer Richard Peck asked Yep in court why he didn’t arrest Meng immediately after the plane landed or during a 13-minute window while she waited in a screening room before border officials questioned her.
Yep said border officials had their own concerns about
Meng’s immigration status and he agreed that they would complete their own process before he stepped in.
“It could have been just as easy for you to arrest her as she stepped off that plane and handed her over to CBSA to do whatever they had to do and then take her away. That way she had her rights, charter rights,” Peck said.
Yep said that’s not what was discussed.
“We had that discussion with CBSA. They had their process. We weren’t going to interfere with their process.”
During an examination by Crown attorney John GibbCarsley on Monday, Yep told the court that the RCMP shares information with the CBSA as well as foreign agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the U.S., subject to certain restrictions like personal information.
Although one of Yep’s superiors had suggested he might board the plane and arrest Meng there, Yep said he had safety concerns. Instead, he said RCMP and CBSA agreed that border officials would screen Meng first and then Yep would arrest her.
During cross-examination, Peck asked Yep to read out part of the affidavit he swore before receiving the arrest warrant that said he had knowledge of the case. Peck said that the process means a person would lose their liberty when they are arrested.
“I ask if you would agree that affidavits such as the one you were swearing were very important and required a degree of care on your part to make sure what’s in the affidavit is true to the best of your information,” Peck said.
“Yes,” he responded.