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Anonymous ID: d4080b Jan. 20, 2020, 11:50 a.m. No.7861899   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Huawei CFO Meng's lawyer says 'double criminality' at center of U.S. extradition case

 

A lawyer for Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou argued on Monday that “double criminality” was at the center of a trial to decide whether Meng can be extradited to the United States, a case that has strained relations between Ottawa and Beijing. Meng, 47, arrived in a Vancouver courtroom wearing a dark top with polka dots, for the first phase of a trial that will last at least four days, as China repeated its call for Canada to release her.

 

Legal experts have said it could be years before a final decision is reached in the case, since Canada’s justice system allows many decisions to be appealed. The United States has charged Meng with bank fraud, and accused her of misleading HSBC Holdings Plc about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s [HWT.UL] business in Iran. Court proceedings show the United States issued the arrest warrant, which Canada acted on in December 2018, because it believes Meng covered up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran, breaking U.S. sanctions against the country.

 

Meng is the daughter of Huawei’s billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei and remains free on bail in Canada. She has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition in part because her alleged conduct was not illegal in Canada, an argument known legally as “double criminality.” Unlike the United States, Canada did not have sanctions against Iran at the time Canadian officials authorized commencing with the extradition, her lawyers have said. The courtroom was packed with only standing room available.

 

Meng’s legal team is currently only scheduled to call evidence in the last week of April, and a second phase of the trial, focusing on abuse of process and whether Canadian officials followed the law while arresting Meng, is set to begin in June. Closing arguments are expected in the last week of September and first week of October.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-huawei-tech-canada/huawei-cfo-mengs-lawyer-says-double-criminality-at-center-of-u-s-extradition-case-idUSKBN1ZJ1AN