A Canadian government’s lawyer says there is no evidence to support the defense’s allegations that the United States acted in bad faith or missed evidence in an attempt to deceive the extradition debate for Chinese communications giant’s chief executive Huawei Technologies.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – There is no evidence to support the defense’s allegations that the U.S. acted in bad faith or left out evidence in an attempt to deceive the extradition hearing of Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies’ chief executive, a Canadian government lawyer said Thursday.
The argument followed a hearing for Meng Wanzhou, who is Huawei’s chief financial officer, as well as the daughter of the company’s founder, who was arrested by Canadian authorities at Vancouver airport in late 2018. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges.
The arrest has angered Beijing, which sees its case as a political move designed to prevent China’s rise.
In the next few weeks, Justice Heather Holmes will hear final arguments as to whether Meng should be extradited to face trial in the United States.
The U.S. accuses Huawei of using Hong Kong-based Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It alleges that Meng, 49, committed fraud by misleading HSBC about the company’s business in Iran.
Defense attorney Mona Duckett told the court this week that the extradition request should be denied after she argued that the United States “strategically made” a misleading record of the case and acted “in bad faith” when stating the reasons for her extradition. The United States missed the facts, obscured the law and inaccurately summarized the documents, she said.
“These are serious allegations,” said Canadian Justice Ministry lawyer Monica Rahman. “Such allegations require that convincing evidence be proven, evidence of quality which is not available before this court.”
Rahman said the United States acted honestly, fairly and reasonably throughout the proceedings. She added that the United States has “very high” standards and “discretion” on what evidence should be presented when presenting evidence of extradition.
Rahman also disputed defense allegations that the U.S. changed its theory of the case.
“There has been no shift in theory,” she said. “There’s the same theory.”
She also disagreed with the defense’s motion that the United States’ conduct justifiably suspend the extradition proceedings.
Meng, who attended the court wearing a pink face mask and an electronic tracking device on her ankle, followed the procedure through an interpreter.
The judge will probably make a decision later in the year. Whatever her decision, she is likely to be appealed.
At previous hearings, Meng’s attorneys argued that her retrieval should be stopped because Canadian Border Security officials arrested and questioned her without a lawyer, asked questions used by U.S. authorities, confiscated her electronic devices, and placed them in special bags to prevent erasure. , and forced to hand over the codes before the official arrest.
They also claimed that the comments were given by the then president of the USA Donald Trump has shown that he hopes to use Meng’s arrest as part of negotiations in trade talks with China and that he lacks U.S. international jurisdiction to prosecute a Chinese citizen for actions in Hong Kong.
Shortly after Meng’s arrest, China arrested Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in apparent retaliation and accused them of espionage. Both remained in prison.
Meng remains at large on bail in Vancouver and lives in a villa.
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