Exclusive | Canada feared for safety of Macau-based witness who refuses to testify in Meng Wanzhou extradition case
- A Department of Justice document reveals concerns for former Canadian police officer Ben Chang, who communicated with FBI after Huawei executive’s arrest
- Chang, who moved to the Chinese territory after retiring, is a key figure in Meng’s claim she is the victim of improper collusion by Canadian and US authorities
Canada’s Department of Justice feared for the safety of a former police officer living in the Chinese territory of Macau who is now refusing to testify at Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearing, a legal document in the case reveals.
The two-word citation in the document, prepared by Justice Department lawyers in June, may explain the reluctance of Ben Chang to take part in the hearings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Chang is a former staff sergeant with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who moved to the Chinese gambling mecca after his retirement.
Chang, who was the chief of the RCMP’s financial integrity unit, is a central figure in Meng’s claims that she is the victim of collusion between Canadian police, border officers and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in violation of her rights and that her extradition case should be thrown out as a result. She is wanted by the US to face trial on New York on fraud charges, which she denies.
On Monday, the court in Vancouver heard that Chang, who communicated with the FBI after Meng’s arrest in December 2018, had retained a lawyer and was refusing to testify.
On June 5, Justice Department lawyer John Gibb-Carsley, representing US interests in the case, wrote to Meng’s lawyer Richard Peck and asserted privilege over various documents that the government was refusing to hand over.