Meng lawyer accuses RCMP officer of dishonesty over her arrest

A lawyer for Meng Wanzhou is accusing an RCMP officer of lying about why he didn’t arrest the Huawei executive immediately at Vancouver’s airport two years ago.

Richard Peck told Const. Winston Yep during cross-examination Wednesday that he does not believe Yep was honest when he told the B.C. Supreme Court this week why the arrest only happened after Canada Border Services Agency officials questioned Meng for three hours. Yep is the first in a series of witnesses called at the request of Meng’s defence team, which is gathering evidence for arguments it will make next year that she was subjected to an abuse of process. The request by the United States for her extradition on fraud charges has soured relations between Canada and China.

Yep testified border officials told him they had their own concerns about Meng’s immigration status and he didn’t want to infringe on their jurisdiction, so agreed that they should screen Meng first then he would make the arrest.

Although a senior RCMP officer suggested boarding the plane and arresting Meng immediately after it landed, Yep also told the court he did not know who Meng was travelling with and was concerned about public and officer safety.

“My view is that’s not an honest answer,” Peck told Yep. “Safety was never an issue.”

“There is a risk there, because there are lots of people around there,” Yep responded.

Yep did not have concerns that the delay meant he was violating a stipulation in the provisional warrant for an “immediate” arrest, he said.