By Moira Warburton
(Reuters) – Evidence used by the United States to justify the extradition of Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is “unreliable and defective” and should not be considered by a Canadian court, Meng’s lawyers argued in documents released to the media on Friday.
Meng, 48, was arrested in December 2018 on a warrant from the United States which alleges that she misled the bank HSBC <HSBA.L> about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.
She has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition while on house arrest in Vancouver.
Meng’s lawyers submitted testimony from expert witnesses including John Bellinger, a former White House lawyer, as well as a Huawei Technologies Co Ltd presentation outlining its relationship with businesses operating in Iran, to back Huawei’s argument that the United States left out key facts about communication with HSBC about Huawei’s operations in Iran when requesting Meng’s extradition from Canada.
The submissions show that the evidence used by the United States as part of their case is “manifestly unreliable – so unreliable and defective – to justify refusing to commit (Meng) for extradition,” lawyers for Huawei wrote.
The issue is scheduled to be argued in a British Columbia courtroom in September as part of Meng’s extradition hearing. The entire extradition hearing is expected to run till April 2021.
On Monday, Meng will attend hearings in a Canadian courtroom via telephone, arguing for the Canadian attorney general to release more confidential documents relating to her arrest to show that her rights were abused. The Canadian attorney general has held back some of the documents related to her arrest claiming privilege.
Meng’s legal team argue that her extradition proceedings should be stayed as a result of the abuses.
(Reporting by Moira Warburon; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
