The U.S. Justice Department’s fight to extradite Meng Wanzhou from Canada has changed. The lawyer for Huawei’s chief financial officer claimed that internal emails and bank documents proved unreasonable to send her to the US.
Meng, 48, was arrested on a US arrest warrant. at Vancouver Airport in late 2018 and is battling extradition to the United States. Her detention has angered the Chinese government and has helped bring ties between Beijing and Ottawa to their lowest point in years.
The US accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell equipment to Iran. It violated US sanctions, saying Meng, 48, had fraudulently misled HSBC about its business in Iran.
But Meng̵
7;s legal team argues that documents from HSBC indicate that Huawei has disclosed about links to Skycom. In a statement, Huawei Canada said: “These documents contain HSBC’s emails and other records showing that there is no evidence of fraud in HSBC“They show that Huawei’s control over Skycom is not precluded by HSBC’s senior management that the ongoing nature of Skycom’s business with Huawei in Iran is not precluded by HSBC’s executives, and their assessment of the necessity of Skycom’s business continuity with Huawei in Iran is not deterred by HSBC’s management. HSBC’s internal risks are made on the basis of knowledge of facts.
It added that “reputation risks are handled with the knowledge of HSBC’s top management.”
Huawei lawyers will try to persuade Canadian courts to allow internal documents to be used as evidence.
Government lawyers in Canada tend to dispute Huawei’s interpretation of the documents and have argued that they are not related to the extradition process. and should be reserved for fraud trials in the United States.
Huawei has claimed that Meng’s arrest was notified by the US. as part of the trade war with China launched by Donald Trump.
Meng’s lawyers have struggled to gain early access to HSBC’s documents in a February lawsuit in the UK. which proved unsuccessful. and in March in Hong Kong It reached an out-of-court agreement with HSBC. The terms of the agreement were not published, but it appears that HSBC gave Huawei access to the documents with confidentiality clauses attached.
But last week A Canadian court accepted a request from prosecutors and Canadian media groups that the information could not be concealed. The outcome, in fact, may not disappoint Huawei, as it makes it more likely that evidence will be accepted in court to challenge. call for extradition
U.S. prosecutors accused Meng of giving a PowerPoint presentation to HSBC in August 2013 that the U.S. alleges “involved in fictitious representation” by overlooking her company’s control of Skycom, describing the company as a simple business partner. The US says Huawei actually controlled Skycom’s operations in Iran until at least 2014.
HSBC, according to the US government “Relying on those and other misrepresentations in deciding to continue the banking relationship with Huawei.”
HSBC “cleared over $100 million in transactions involving Skycom through the United States between 2010 and 2014,” the United States said.
But Huawei argued that the new documents show that Meng did not defraud banks. Therefore, the basis for her extradition to the United States was undermined.
HSBC has provided internal documents to the US Department of Justice. To avoid prosecution by the United States, but not to Meng’s lawyers.
The Chinese government has criticized the cooperation between HSBC and the US government. severely in this case
HSBC said it had no legal option but to cooperate with US authorities. But the bank has been caught in political trouble because it is headquartered in the UK and most of its profits come from China.
Meng has been living in her Vancouver home on bail since she was arrested at the city’s airport in December 2018, days after Meng arrested Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, and businessman Michael Spavor, who was arrested by the gang. Chinese government on espionage charges They are still incarcerated.
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