Meng seeks full disclosure of documents about arrest

The chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies is seeking access to hundreds of confidential documents about her arrest as her next round of extradition hearings in Vancouver kicks off Monday.

Meng Wanzhou has been pressing for additional disclosure about the circumstances of her arrest at Vancouver’s airport on a U.S. handover request in December 2018. She argues her arrest was unlawful and that the extradition request should be dismissed.

Meng alleges there was an abuse of process during her arrest, accusing border agents, police and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation of unlawfully using the pretext of an immigration check to get her to disclose evidence they could use against her. Border agents have said that they shared “in error” her device passwords with police. Those abuses are serious enough to warrant a stay of extradition proceedings, Meng says.

In February, Canada’s attorney general provided some 400 documents to her lawyers, half of which were either partly or wholly redacted, along with a list of others that were withheld entirely. The government argues that divulging them would violate confidentiality agreements with clients and others. Meng has challenged the redactions as irrelevant and obstructionist.

Five days of hearings are scheduled at B.C. Supreme Court during which Meng will seek an order that would force the government to provide additional disclosure. Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes is likely to issue a decision by Oct. 2.

Separately, at the Federal Court in Ottawa, Meng is challenging Canada’s decision to withhold on national security grounds documents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that detail the role the FBI played in her arrest.

Meng accused Canada of “coordinated state misconduct,” saying police, border officials and the FBI worked together in secret as authorities questioned her for hours and obtained passwords to her electronic devices before formally charging her. The U.S. seeks Meng’s handover to face charges that she conspired to defraud banks by tricking them into violating sanctions against Iran.

The arrest of Meng, 48, the eldest daughter of Huawei’s billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei, has plunged Canada-china relations into their darkest period in decades.