Judge won’t adjourn extradition hearing
COURT: Chinese man in Richmond accused of cyberspying on U.S. military secrets
U.S. investigators are seeking to get access to information on computers seized at the B.C. home of a Chinese man accused of cyberspying on U.S. military secrets because RCMP lack the resources to do the job, a judge was told Wednesday.
Su Bin was arrested in Richmond in June of last year and is being sought for extradition to the U.S. for allegedly being part of a conspiracy to hack into the computers of U.S. defence contractors and steal large quantities of data on military projects, including fighter jets.
Bin’s extradition hearing began Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver with his lawyer arguing that while the Crown’s case on behalf of U.S. authorities should be heard, there should be an adjournment thereafter to await the outcome of a separate proceeding dealing with the seized computers in B.C.
Defence lawyer Greg DelBigio told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Greyell that an application is scheduled for later this month to deal with the issue of whether U.S. investigators should be allowed to come to Canada to access Bin’s computers.
The evidence against Bin in the extradition hearing is largely based on emails seized from computers outside Canada by U.S. authorities, who now also want to have the data from Bin’s computers in Canada.
DelBigio said the RCMP does not have the resources to go through electronic data on Bin’s computers and provide a translation of it, so U.S. authorities asked permission to do that work for them.
He said he opposes U.S. investigators coming to Canada to access Bin’s computers because it’s not allowed under the law and doesn’t protect privacy interests.
DelBigio said the extradition case should be adjourned after the Crown’s side is heard because there might be relevant evidence in the seized computers in B.C.
But Deborah Strachan, a lawyer for the federal Crown seeking the extradition on behalf of the U.S., told the judge that it was speculative to say the B.C. computer data might be relevant, and argued there was no basis to hold up the extradition proceeding indefinitely. She said the two proceedings were not related.
The judge declined to grant the adjournment.
Diba Majzub, another federal Crown counsel, told the judge that Bin directed his two coconspirators, both Chinese military officers, to target the computers of several U.S. defence contractors.
The unidentified officers would hack into the computers, obtain a list of file names and send them to Bin, who would indicate which files were the most useful, said Majzub.
The officers would then hack into the computers and steal the files.
Majzub said files on the C-17 Strategic Transport Aircraft, along with data on the F-22 and F-35 supersonic fighters, were stolen.
The hearing continues Thursday.