Meng Wanzhou is ‘contractually bound’ to try to keep HSBC evidence secret in extradition case, lawyers say

Lawyers for Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou have told a Canadian court that she is “contractually bound” to seek a publication ban on evidence in her extradition case that has been provided by HSBC, to protect the bank’s privacy and encourage it to take part in the court proceedings.

But lawyers from the Canadian government and a consortium of media outlets, including the South China Morning Post, told the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver on Monday that imposing a publication ban on the material was inconsistent with Canada’s open court principles and it should be denied.

The documents were provided to Meng under the terms of an April agreement with HSBC, as a result of a Hong Kong lawsuit.

Meng, who is Huawei’s chief financial officer, was arrested at Vancouver’s airport on December 1, 2018, at the request of US authorities who want her extradited to face trial in New York. She is accused of defrauding HSBC by lying about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, putting the bank at risk of breaching US sanctions on the country; Meng denies the charges.

In a written submission, Meng’s lawyers said the deal “requires the Applicant to seek a publication ban when seeking to tender the disclosure as evidence in these proceedings”. The agreement required Meng to “use reasonable efforts” to keep the information confidential.

Lawyer Tony Paisana told the hearing that Meng was “contractually bound” by the deal to try to protect the HSBC documents’ confidentiality.

However, he told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes that Meng was not prohibited from using the documents, should a publication ban be denied, as long as she made reasonable efforts to obtain one.