Delays in Meng extradition process put the two Michaels in increased peril
Justice delayed is justice denied, as the old saying goes. But that’s only the half of it in the Meng Wanzhou extradition case.
In the Meng case, fraught as it is with international political implications, justice delayed is downright dangerous. With pressure growing almost daily, the delay endangers the futures, even the lives, of Canadians Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on leave, and businessperson Michael Spavor, who are incarcerated in China.
Official denials notwithstanding, the Meng affair has, from the beginning, been as much political as it has been legal.
The U.S. case against Meng, the chief financial officer (and daughter of the founder) of Huawei Technologies, had its origins in a 2013 transaction between Huawei and the international bank HSBC. In the course of applying for a $1.5 billion (U.S.) loan, Meng, it is alleged, made false statements that understated Huawei’s relationship with Skycom Tech. Co., an Iranbased company controlled by Huawei.
As U.S. authorities saw it, Meng’s statements constituted fraud and were intended to evade American sanctions against Iran.
On Aug. 22, 2018, a New York court issued a warrant for the arrest of Meng, who had been living in Vancouver.
The United States requested her extradition under a Canada-u.s. extradition treaty.
On Dec. 1, 2018, Meng was arrested as she passed through the airport in Vancouver. This news became public on Dec. 5. China demanded her release the next day. On Dec. 7, she appeared in court in Vancouver to hear the charges read against her.
Three days later, China arrested the two Michaels.
On Dec. 11, with Meng freed on $10-million bail, Trump raised the stakes from simply legal to highly political.
He told Reuters that he would “certainly intervene” in Meng’s case “if I thought it was necessary” to help forge a trade deal with China. In other words, he was prepared to use her as a bargaining chip.
At that point, Ottawa might have used the introduction of this political dimension, plus the fact that Canada was not a party to the Iran sanctions, as reasonable grounds to abandon the extradition effort, a step that might — and I emphasize “might” — have prompted China to release Kovrig and Spavor.
The minister of justice has the authority to intervene at any stage to halt an extradition proceeding, but the government, undoubtedly fearful of antagonizing the mercurial and twitchy Trump, chose not to intervene then or at any subsequent stage as the process dragged on and on — through 2019 and into 2020.
Any hope that the B.C. Supreme Court would get the federal government off the Meng hook evaporated last month when Associate
Chief Justice Heather Holmes ruled that the allegation that Meng had lied to HSBC in 2013 would, if proved, constitute a crime in Canada and was, therefore, enough to allow the extradition to proceed.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — acting on valid concerns about encouraging hostagetaking — has hardened the government’s position. He rejects all suggestions that the government stop the extradition and, in effect, exchange Meng’s liberty for the release of the two Michaels.
Meng is due back in court on Aug. 17 in proceedings destined to continue into 2021. They may well, some experts say, stretch to 2024 — leaving the fates of the two Canadians hanging in the balance.
It seems ridiculous to this layman that extradition proceedings are allowed — even encouraged — to drag on so long.
Parliament could amend the 1999 Extradition Act to build in time limits. When an application for extradition is received, is there any reason why the act could not stipulate that the application be heard within, say, one month and that a decision be rendered within one additional month. Could the appeal process, which can extend all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, not be drastically shortened or even eliminated? Changes now would not help with the exceptional Meng case, but they might prevent future extraditions from escalating the way Meng has.
Cambridge resident Geoffrey Stevens, an author and former Ottawa columnist and managing editor of the Globe and Mail, teaches political science at the University of Guelph. His column appears Mondays. He welcomes comments at geoffstevens40@gmail.com.
It seems ridiculous to this layman that extradition proceedings are allowed — even encouraged — to drag on so long