Lawyers claim Meng’s rights were violated
TOP Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou and her lawyers went to court on Monday to try to have her extradition case thrown out, arguing that her rights were violated.
The 47-year-old Huawei chief financial officer was detained during a stopover at the Vancouver airport last December on a US warrant. The United States wants to put Meng on trial for fraud for allegedly violating Iran sanctions and lying about it to US banks — accusations her lawyers dispute.
Meng, a rising star whose father Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei and over three decades grew it into a global telecom giant, expressed surprise when told she was being arrested, according to a transcript of her speaking with authorities after her flight from Hong Kong landed.
In a preliminary disclosure hearing at the British Columbia Supreme Court, defense lawyers asked for details from prosecutors about her arrest. They are also expected to seek the release of documents in a separate civil proceeding this week against federal police and border officials, in which they allege false imprisonment and other rights breaches.
Evidence from both hearings could be used to argue a violation of process and, if successful, put pressure on the attorney general to reconsider a decision to proceed with the extradition.
Defense lawyer Richard Peck told the court that the Canada Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police delayed her arrest and collected evidence for American authorities in a “covert criminal investigation.”
He laid out how border agents detained Meng under the pretense of an immigration matter and never alerted her to a US warrant for her arrest, while using passwords she volunteered to snoop through her computers and phones. They questioned her for three hours without advising her of her rights, he said, before eventually handing her over to federal police.
“The facts establish that the CBSA and RCMP collaborated and arranged a plan to deal with Ms Meng in a way that violated” her rights, Peck said.
This provided CBSA agents “an opportunity to interrogate” Meng on behalf of the RCMP and the FBI, he said, suggesting that US authorities have routinely “misused” immigration admissibility exams to gather evidence in criminal cases.
Both the CBSA and RCMP have denied any wrongdoing.
(AFP)