Huawei’s Meng stages ‘ill-advised’ photo shoot
Executive projects air of confidence mere days before court date
VANCOUVER—She arrived at the Vancouver courthouse steps with friends and family and flashed a thumbs-up and a “V” sign — perhaps for victory, or for peace — as a photographer snapped pictures.
Outwardly, a smiling Meng Wanzhou did not appear worried.
The bizarre moment, captured by CBC News this past weekend, seemed somewhat apropos for an extradition case that has drawn international political and legal intrigue. It came just days before a pivotal B.C. Supreme Court ruling in the Huawei executive’s Canadian saga — one that could set her free, or just set the stage for the next round of legal arguments.
One legal observer said the staged photo shoot is not something he would have advised his client to do.
“I think it’s probably ill-advised to have done it so blatantly,” Gary Botting, a criminal defence lawyer and extradition expert, said Monday.
“I would have said, ‘Keep a relatively low profile and everything should be normal until the judge has a chance to make her judgment public.’ ”
Canadian authorities arrested Meng, the Chinese telecom giant’s chief financial officer and daughter of billionaire entrepreneur Ren Zhengfei, at Vancouver International Airport on Dec. 1, 2018, at the behest of U.S. authorities, who have charged her with fraud-related crimes for allegedly violating American sanctions against Iran.
The United States alleges Meng lied to HSBC, one of Huawei’s bankers, about the company’s relationship with its Iranbased affiliate, Skycom, putting the financial institution at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against the country.
The American government is seeking to extradite Meng to the U.S. to face those charges.
But Canada’s extradition act says a suspect can only be extradited to a foreign country if the alleged crime for which they are being sought is a crime in the country where they were arrested — a test known as double criminality.
Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes is expected to announce Wednesday whether that burden has been met.
If she says it has, that will pave the way for further hearings in which Meng’s lawyers will argue her charter rights were violated when she was detained.
However, if Holmes decides the Crown has not met the threshold for double criminality, experts say it’s likely Meng will be set free. She would no longer be on bail and would be free to move about the country, or she might choose to get on an international flight, if one is available.
“I would expect, if released from house arrest, that she would leave the jurisdiction as soon as possible,” said Lisa Jean Helps, a criminal defence and extradition lawyer.
The Crown, of course, would still have the option of filing an appeal.
Helps declined to say what she thinks the court will decide, noting there are compelling arguments on both sides.
“What the defence are saying is this is a very specific crime and we don’t have this crime in Canada. What the Department of Justice is saying is this is a very specific crime the way that it’s on the indictment, but what the actions are would still amount to fraud and we prosecute fraud.”
Botting, however, said he’ll be surprised and disappointed if Holmes finds the test for double criminality has been met.
“We’re talking about a case that allegedly occurred in Hong Kong with a bank that’s registered in the United Kingdom,” he said.
“Canada doesn’t have jurisdiction.”
Both Huawei and Meng have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Meng’s lawyers have denounced her arrest as politically motivated.
Less than two weeks after her arrest in December 2018, Chinese authorities detained two Canadians, diplomat-on-leave Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor, in a move some Western observers have said can only be seen as retaliatory. They remain in custody.
Meng, meanwhile, has been under partial house arrest during the legal proceedings. The CBC reported that Meng arrived to her photo shoot Saturday night in an SUV surrounded by about a dozen family and friends. At one point, the GPS monitoring bracelet she is required to wear on her ankle was visible.
The Star reached out to her lawyers and to Huawei representatives for comment but did not get a reply.