Huawei’s chief financial officer argued in court documents made public Tuesday that Canadian efforts to extradite her to the U.S. should be stayed because of misconduct by Canadian and U.S. law enforcement, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The allegations were contained in hundreds of pages of documents and videos showing the arrest last year of Huawei’s finance chief, Meng Wanzhou, that were released late Tuesday following a court hearing in Vancouver. The extradition case has put Canada in the middle of a high-stakes trade conflict between the U.S. and China.
The U.S. has charged Meng and Huawei with violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. Meng and Huawei have denied any wrongdoing. Meng’s lawyers are seeking records of communications between Canadian and U.S. authorities in an effort to support their claim that an abuse of process took place during her arrest.
In an application for disclosure submitted to the court, lawyers for Meng allege that she was unlawfully detained, searched and interrogated at the Vancouver airport “under a ruse” carried out by Canadian customs officers, Canadian police and American authorities.
Meng’s lawyers say those actions were taken “for the benefit of and likely at the direction of” the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other U.S. authorities. They allege that Canadian customs officials took Meng aside for secondary screening, where they questioned her and searched her belongings without letting her know why she was being detained.
Her lawyers also allege U.S. authorities committed an abuse of process by attempting to use extradition proceedings for economic and political gain and cited comments by President Donald Trump about possibly intervening in the case in the interests of forging a new trade deal with China, the Journal added.
“The provisional arrest of Meng, the daughter of the founder of [Huawei], appears strongly to have been effected to create a potential bargaining chip as part of a much larger political strategy related to international economics, power, and trade,” said Meng’s lawyers in the court records.
Meng has been in Vancouver since December. She was detained by Canadian authorities at the airport while she was in transit to Mexico after the U.S. made a formal request for her extradition. She is fighting extradition in a legal battle that could take years. Huawei has said it follows the law in all countries where it operates.
Meng is now out on bail and required to stay in the Vancouver area, where she and her husband own two residences. In May, the court allowed Meng to move under court-ordered curfew into a secluded mansion located on the same block as the U.S. consul general’s residence.
Be the first to comment