MENG LOSES KEY RULING
TECH EXECUTIVE TO REMAIN ON BAIL AT VANCOUVER HOME AS U.S. EXTRADITION CASE CONTINUES
Extradition case to proceed
China tech giant Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou left a Vancouver courthouse on Wednesday with an electronic monitoring bracelet firmly around her ankle, still shackled to the U.S. fraud case against her.
B.C. Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes ruled that the allegations against Meng, that she lied to American banks to get Huawei business around sanctions against Iran, could constitute a crime in Canada. So her extradition case continues, and she will remain on bail in a luxury Vancouver home.
“On the question of law posed, I conclude that, as a matter of law, the double criminality requirement for extradition is capable of being met in this case,” Holmes wrote in the 23-page decision.
China angrily denounced the decision and called once more for her immediate release.
“The purpose of the United States is to bring down Huawei and other Chinese high-tech companies, and Canada has been acting in the process as an accomplice of the United States. The whole case is entirely a grave political incident,” said a statement by the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister François-philippe Champagne said the government would continue to respect the independence of its judiciary from politics, and he called for China to release two “arbitrarily detained” Canadians.
Arrested at the Vancouver airport in December 2018, Meng is wanted in the United States for conduct Washington considers a violation of U.s.-imposed sanctions against Iran.
American prosecutors alleged Meng lied to bank officials inquiring into links between Huawei and a former subsidiary doing business in Iran.
Meng’s lawyers asked Holmes to halt the extradition process because her conduct would not amount to fraud if committed in Canada — failing to meet the so-called “double-criminality” requirement — because the country had no sanctions against Iran.
“It is important to note that these allegations are unproven but must be taken as true for the purpose of this application,” Holmes emphasized in dismissing that argument.
The case has become the centre of a global drama, a proxy squabble between Beijing and Washington that has Canada caught in the middle.
Two Canadians — Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — were arrested in China days after Meng’s arrest and accused of violating national-security laws.
A former diplomat stationed in China, Kovrig was working as an analyst and researcher for a think-tank called the International Crisis Group.
Spavor, from Calgary, was with the Paektu Cultural Exchange, an organization that promotes investment and tourism in North Korea.
They were separately detained on Dec. 10, 2018.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on April 23 that consular services for the two being held under reputedly deplorable conditions were not currently available because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Since December 2018, however, Meng has been free on $10-million bail, living in one of her two local mansions.
The daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, Meng was charged with bank and wire fraud after U.S. investigators alleged she misrepresented the company’s relationship with a subsidiary, putting the bank at risk of violating the sanctions.
“She is said to have made false statements to HSBC in 2013, significantly understating Huawei’s relationship with Skycom Tech. Co. Ltd., a company based in Iran,” Holmes said.
The judge said two articles published in December 2012 by Reuters associating Huawei with Skycom’s U.s.-related business dealings in Iran precipitated the charges.
The articles reported that Huawei and Skycom had “close ties” and that Skycom was one of Huawei’s “major local partners” in Iran.
They also noted Meng sat on Skycom’s board from February 2008 to April 2009, and in 2007 she was company secretary for a Huawei holding subsidiary that owned 100 per cent of Skycom’s stock, Holmes pointed out.
During a meeting in the backroom of a Hong Kong restaurant on Aug. 22, 2013, Meng assured senior HSBC representatives there was no substance to the allegations.
“Although Huawei had sold its shareholding in Skycom some years before the August 2013 meeting, and Ms. Meng had resigned from Skycom’s board, Huawei in reality continued to control Skycom and its banking and business operations in Iran,” Holmes said.
Meng and Huawei have stridently denied the charges.
Meng’s lawyers have also filed an abuse-of-process application claiming her rights were violated when she was arrested at Vancouver airport that has yet to be heard.
Eventually, Holmes will decide whether Meng should be surrendered to American authorities, but she would likely appeal.
It could take years for her case to reach the Supreme Court of Canada and even then it would not be over.
The federal justice minister has the final say on extradition, a decision Meng would be entitled to have reviewed by the B.C. Court of Appeal.
Huawei said it was disappointed in Wednesday’s ruling.
“Huawei continues to stand with Ms. Meng in her pursuit for (sic) justice and freedom,” the company said in a statement.
“We expect that Canada’s judicial system will ultimately prove Ms. Meng’s innocence. Ms. Meng’s lawyers will continue to work tirelessly to see justice is served.”
The extradition proceedings will resume June 3.