Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is currently fighting extradition to the U.S. but her lawyers allege that their client was “tricked” into the ploy, and have now demanded full publication of several documents, drafted by the Canadian spy agency, that had been redacted before and after her arrest.
“She was never told the reasons she was detained,” said Scott Fenton, one of Wanzhou’s lawyers. “She was misled; she was tricked, in fact,” Fenton added, asserting how the unfair move alone was a violation of her rights. Her lawyers further alleged that national security should not restrict the release of the documents -- parts of which were made public during ongoing court proceedings. The documents were largely pertaining to whether Meng, Huawei's chief financial officer, should be extradited.
“National security privilege should not be used to cover up abuse,” wrote one of Meng's lawyers in a submission outlining their arguments. “Additionally, national security privilege should not be used to protect government enforcement officials from being embarrassed,” they added.
The documents reportedly carry in-depth insights into the communications between the FBI and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and show the involvement of the Canadian spy agency in the arrest of the Chinese technology giant’s financial chief.
The allegations were rubbished by The Canadian attorney general’s lawyer, Robert Frater, who opposed the proposal of the publication of documents in court filings had thumbed his nose at the accusations, terming them “fanciful inferences from anodyne statements” in the court filings.
Furthermore, a Canadian foreign ministry official maintained that the full disclosure of the documents could “renew tensions” and compromise on national security while putting the safety of Canadians in jeopardy.
The financial chief was charged with violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and was arrested on a U.S. warrant during a Vancouver stopover in 2018. Wanzhou faces charges for bank fraud while putting HSBC’s safety at risk for breaching U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
Soon after Wanzhou’s arrest, China jailed a former Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, and his fellow countryman Michael Spavor, on the pretext on unlawful spying.
A special hearing of the case is likely to take place in the federal court on Thursday, as the Canadian government's lawyers have been ordered to produce the redacted documents for a detailed review by a court-approved representative of Wanzhour’s legal team. The process in turn will permit the court to determine whether a release of the documents in its entirety.
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