HUAWEI EXECUTIVE OFFERS $15M BAIL
VANCOUVER • Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou offered to post the equivalent of $15 million bail and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet if she is released from a Vancouver jail.
Meng, 46, appeared in a Vancouver court Monday, seeking bail while awaiting an extradition hearing on U.S. charges of fraud.
“She is a woman of character and dignity,” her lawyer, David Martin, told the court.
“She would comply with your order.”
The pledge came on the second day of a bail hearing in the high-profile case that’s transfixed investors on both sides of the Pacific as it stokes U.S.-China trade tensions.
Meng followed the proceedings through an interpreter at the back of the Vancouver courtroom.
Justice William Ehrcke of the British Columbia Supreme Court expressed doubts that Meng’s husband, Xiaozong Liu, could act as her surety if she were granted bail. The judge also said it’s impossible to guarantee that there would be no flight risk.
Ehrcke asked Martin how Liu could possibly serve as his wife’s “jailer,” particularly if the judge couldn’t order Liu to remain in the country. Martin said he wasn’t aware of Liu’s immigration status in Canada.
Crown attorney John Gibb-Carsley said the prosecution “always had a concern” about Liu acting as a surety because of his lack of connection to Canada and Vancouver.
He also questioned whether Meng, who has two homes in Vancouver, has a meaningful connection in the city, since she only spends two or three weeks each summer here. The couple’s homes are valued at more than $20 million, according to property records and an affidavit from Meng, and would be used to secure $14 million of her bail.
“That’s the extent of the connection and I say that’s not meaningful,” he said.
Meng was arrested Dec. 1 during a stopover in Vancouver on her way to Mexico. The 46-year-old mother of four is accused of guiding a global effort by the Chinese telecom equipment giant to mask violations of sanctions on sales to Iran. It’s an unprecedented effort to hold accountable a senior executive who’s considered part of China’s inner circle — the daughter of billionaire Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.
Gibb-Carsley has argued against granting Meng bail because she’s so wealthy that she will easily be able to pay whatever is required and then flee. Since learning of the investigation into her alleged activities, Meng has avoided the U.S., and other Huawei executives have also stopped travelling there, he added.
Meng’s lawyers have in turn argued their client has no criminal record, cited high-profile character witnesses to vouch for her, and say she has substantive ties that ensure she would remain in Vancouver. They’ve also cited health issues, including daily medication, to argue for her release from a Vancouverarea detention centre.
Meng’s only two valid passports — from China and Hong Kong — have already been confiscated, preventing her from boarding any commercial flights. The only place she could flee to by land is the U.S., the very country that seeks her extradition, they argue.
The Crown noted Meng’s Canadian permanent resident status expired nine years ago and her B.C. ID card expired 12 years ago.
Earlier, expert witness Scot Filer testified on behalf of the defence to explain how Meng’s whereabouts could be secured if she were to be released.
Technology by itself would be no guarantee Meng wouldn’t flee, Filer, CEO of Lions Gate Risk Management Group and a former member of the RCMP, told the court. Using two security officers at a time, as well as a driver, and technology to oversee Meng’s whereabouts would minimize the flight risk, he said.
“I’m very confident what we will have in place will satisfy the court,” Filer said.
Meng would pay for the security operations as an added layer of assurance she would remain in the country if granted bail, Martin told the court.
Filer said he had met with Meng, her family and her lawyers and had visited the family home on West 28th Avenue in Vancouver where she might stay if released, and determined there would be no impediment to providing security for Meng.
There were no guarantees as security is not an exact science, but proper security could be provided, he added.
The preferred option would be to have three eighthour shifts that would include one security driver, two security officers, one security vehicle and technical devices, said Filer.
Under the plan, Meng would be closely monitored but would be able to travel around Vancouver and Richmond and over to parts of the North Shore, according to Filer.
Under cross-examination from Gibb-Carsley, Filer said Meng would be the first time the company would handle a case of a person on bail.
Asked whether the firm’s technology could be compromised, Filer said it wasn’t his area of expertise but he had been assured the company technology was dedicated, safe and encrypted.
Stephen Tan of Recovery Science Corp. testified that his company provides electronic monitoring programs. Tan said he didn’t anticipate any problems if Meng is released from custody, with the company able to monitor her whereabouts within the boundaries set by the plan.
If a violation occurs, the company will be notified within seconds, allowing them to respond quickly, he said. In only one case has a subject of electronic monitoring using the company’s systems ever fled and evaded being captured, said Tan.
As a backup, any violation alerts would be sent to Filer’s security officers, alerted through text messages and emails, said Tan.
Under questioning by Gibb-Carsley, Tan agreed GPS monitoring does not prevent the subject from physically moving. The bracelet device used in electronic monitoring is audited by the company but there is no guarantee that it could not be compromised, said Tan.
The hearing resumes Tuesday.