Huawei executive’s extradition is no ‘garden-variety’ case because of Donald Trump, her lawyer says
- Lawyer Frank Addario tells a Canadian judge to ignore case law when deciding whether to admit new evidence in Meng Wanzhou’s extradition case
- He uses an analogy about Meng’s hair colour to suggest it did not matter if she had been deceptive in a presentation to HSBC
The extradition of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou could not be treated as a “garden-variety” case, because of interference by US President Donald Trump, her lawyer told a Canadian judge on Wednesday as he argued for the admission of new evidence in the case.
The lawyer, Frank Addario, also used an analogy about Meng’s hair colour to suggest that it did not matter whether she had been deceptive during a presentation to an HSBC banker – the basis of the US fraud charges against her.
Addario told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the Supreme Court of British Columbia that she should not be swayed by what he called “boilerplate concerns” about the need for a speedy extradition process that had been raised a day earlier by Robert Frater, a lawyer for Canada’s attorney general representing US interests.
“You were told there was this long, eye-watering string of cases to dismiss these motions. But this is not a normal garden-variety extradition case,” said Addario, citing alleged intervention in Meng’s prosecution by Trump, who said after her arrest almost two years ago that he might step in to help the US in trade negotiations with China.
Existing extradition case law “is not going to help you”, Addario told Holmes.