The legal team of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. executive Meng Wanzhou is seeking more access to reports from federal bodies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, saying the lack of transparency in such records should result in a stay of proceedings.
The requests, made both at a hearing Monday in Ottawa and previously in filed documents with the B.C. Supreme Court, said the existing released information provided by the Crown (upon Meng’s earlier request) were heavily and unnecessarily redacted.
Meng’s argument for the lack of transparency in Canadian/U.S. authorities’ documents extend to the existing Record of the Case (ROC) and Supplementary Record of the Case (SROC), both of which - Meng’s lawyers contend - failed to meet “a duty to be diligent, candid and accurate.”
“The Requesting State’s [the United States’] material misstatements and omissions of the core facts disentitle it to the assistance of this Court,” the Meng legal team said in documents filed with the B.C. Supreme Court this month. “Its misconduct meets the ‘clearest of cases’ standard. Only a stay will vindicate the principles of fundamental justice. No other remedy sufficiently addresses the prejudice to the Applicant [Meng]…”
Monday’s court hearings in Ottawa saw Meng’s lawyers make specific requests to disclose more information from the Canadian spy agency, a request the Crown said would compromise national security - while also inflaming the ongoing friction between Ottawa and Beijing.
On the B.C. Supreme Court front, Meng accuses the U.S. authorities of misleading the Court by omitting information in the ROC that would have shown that the Huawei executive’s PowerPoint presentation to HSBC in 2013 clearly indicated the company’s relationship with Skycom, a Huawei subsidiary operating in Iran.
“From the Applicant’s presentation, HSBC thus knew that Skycom and Huawei were operating together in Iran,” the document said. “… In summary, on the facts not disclosed by the Requesting State: No deception. No material omission. No conduct by the Applicant placing HSBC at risk. No fraud.”
The Meng case - one of the highest-profile in Canadian extradition history - has created a rift in the relations between Canada and China, its second-largest trade partner. Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor has been held in Chinese detention for almost two years, and Beijing has blocked a number of key Canadian exports last year.
Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on Dec. 1, 2018 on a U.S. extradition request, alleging that the Huawei executive committing fraud and money laundering through the U.S. banking system while also stealing trade secrets from U.S.-based companies.
