A Canadian judge on Thursday said she would announce her decision at a later date after ending the first phase of an extradition hearing that is to decide whether the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei is sent to the US.
This week’s hearings dealt with the question of whether the US charges against Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟), the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei (任正非), are crimes in Canada as well.
Her lawyers argued the case is really about US sanctions against Iran, not a fraud case.
Photo: AFP
They maintain since Canada does not have similar sanctions against Tehran, no fraud occurred.
Canada arrested Meng in December 2018 at Vancouver’s airport at the request of the US, as she was changing flights.
The US Department of Justice accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment to Iran in violation of US sanctions.
It says Meng, 47, committed fraud by misleading HSBC about the company’s business dealings in Iran.
On Wednesday, Canadian Department of Justice lawyer Robert Frater told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes that fraud is at the heart of the case and by lying to the bank, Meng put the bank at risk.
Frater said sanctions were the reason for the meeting with the bank, but it is the alleged misrepresentation that matters to the US
However, defense lawyer Scott Fenton said when the federal government asked a judge to issue an arrest warrant for Meng in 2018, the documents focused on the US sanctions driving the risk to HSBC.
He said the federal government is now telling a different story.
“The court is being embarrassed,” Fenton said.
“There can be no fraud here, because all risk to HSBC is based on underlining US sanctions risk which cannot exist in Canada.,” he said.
Homes said she would reserve her decision.
If the judge rules that what Meng is charged with is not a crime in Canada, Meng would be free to leave Canada.
Meng, who is free on bail and living in one of the two Vancouver mansions she owns, waved to the public on the way in the courtroom.
The second phase of her extradition hearing, scheduled for June, would consider defense allegations that Canada Border Services, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI breached Meng’s rights while collecting evidence before she was actually arrested.
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