VANCOUVER — The final set of hearings in the extradition case of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou are due to begin today in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
Legal arguments are expected over the next few weeks from the Department of Justice and Meng’s lawyers over whether she should be extradited to the United States.
Meng is wanted on allegations that she misled HSBC about Huawei’s relationship with another company, putting the bank at risk of violating American sanctions against Iran — charges that both she and Huawei deny.
In July, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes ruled against allowing new evidence in the extradition case because it did not “expressly” support Meng’s claim that the American legal summary of allegations against her were unreasonable.
Meng’s lawyers told the judge the documents include email chains and spreadsheets that undermine the fraud allegations against her and prove the U.S. misled the court in its summary to Canada.
Meng has been out on bail, living in one of her Vancouver homes since her arrest at Vancouver’s airport in December 2018.
Her arrest has heated relations between Canada and China, and the arrests of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig that followed it are widely seen as retaliation by the Chinese government.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2021.
The Canadian Press
