Huawei lawyers make final push to halt Meng Wanzhou extradition to US

Lawyers for Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou made a final push for a Canadian court to reject a U.S. extradition request, arguing that allowing her to face fraud charges in New York would encourage more improper demands by American authorities, Bloomberg reports.

The U.S. “is not in charge of policing the world,” and halting the extradition of CFO Wanzhou is the only reasonable remedy to a range of alleged abuses by the U.S. and Canadian authorities, defense lawyer Tony Paisana told a judge in Vancouver on Monday.

“Misconduct of this sort cannot ever be tolerated, for to do so is to condone, perhaps even to invite, similar conduct,” Paisana told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes in the British Columbia Supreme Court.

Meng has been fighting extradition in the Canadian court since her arrest in Vancouver at the request of the U.S. two and a half years ago. American prosecutors claim she lied to HSBC Holdings Plc about Huawei’s operations in Iran as part of a scheme to violate U.S. trade sanctions.

Meng, who could face up to 30 years if convicted in the U.S., denies any wrongdoing.

Her legal team argues that Canada is not bound to honor its extradition treaty because U.S. officials, from the president on down, acted dishonorably. Lead lawyer Richard Peck cited remarks by former President Donald Trump and his then secretary of state Mike Pompeo in the months following Meng’s December 2018 arrest that indicated Washington was ready to intervene in her case if it would further American foreign policy and trade interests.

“When before has a head of state interfered with an extradition?” Peck said, adding that such remarks had reduced his client to a political “bargaining chip.”

During testimony Tuesday, Canadian prosecutor Robert Frater said the defense lawyers “greatly overstate the President’s words.”

The defense claims Meng’s rights were violated, alleging that:

- Canadian border officials and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police breached Meng’s rights and mishandled evidence during her arrest at Vancouver’s airport.

- U.S. authorities misrepresented their case against her to the Canadian government

- Trump and Pompeo tainted the process with their public comments

- The U.S. lacked jurisdiction over her alleged offense, which took place in Hong Kong in 2013

- Prosecutors say the only misconduct was the improper sharing of Meng’s telephone pass codes between border services officers and police.

“The RCMP were forthright in their testimony and admitted to errors where appropriate,” Frater told the court. “They made reasonable choices about how to proceed in a novel set of circumstances.”-Photo: Canadian Press