Meng Wanzhou’s dishonesty ‘abundantly clear’ and she should be taken into custody, Canadian government lawyers say
- Canadian government lawyer Robert Frater said the US evidence against the Huawei executive established a prima facie case that she had defrauded HSBC
- The marathon extradition case has entered the committal phase, the final courtroom process before a judge rules on her fate
The marathon extradition battle on Wednesday finally entered the committal stage, the last courtroom process before Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes will decide whether to release Meng or recommend to Canada’s Justice Minister David Lametti that she be sent for trial in New York.
Meng is accused of defrauding HSBC by lying to the bank about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, conducted via an affiliate called Skycom, thus putting the bank at risk of breaching US sanctions on the Middle Eastern country.
The charges centre on a PowerPoint presentation that Meng delivered to a banker in a Hong Kong teahouse in 2013. She denies the charges.
Canada’s Department of Justice chief general counsel, Robert Frater, who is representing US interests in the case, said the PowerPoint’s message “slide after slide” was how rigorous Huawei was in sanctions compliance.
But in her presentation to the banker, known as Witness B, Meng had “falsely tried to distance Huawei from Skycom … the truth [is] that Huawei was Skycom”.
“Ms Meng was faithful to Huawei’s script,” said Frater, and “the evidence of dishonesty in this case is, we say, abundantly clear”.