MONTRÉAL, Québec (CU)_Canadian prosecutors told a court on Tuesday that it is for the country’s justice minister and not for a judge to decide whether geopolitical and national security concerns can provide a basis to strike down the United States’ request to extradite Meng Wanzhou, Chief Financial Officer of Huawei.
In December 2018, Meng was arrested in Vancouver, on a US warrant accusing her of putting HSBC at risk of violating US sanction laws by misleading the bank regarding Huawei’s business dealings with Iran. However, the telecom giant’s CFO has denied any wrongdoing, and is therefore fighting her extradition case while under house arrest in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, the Canadian prosecutors argued on Thursday (March 4) that if Meng has in fact become a bargaining chip in the trade war between Washington and Beijing, as her lawyers allege, then it is not a judge but Canada’s minister of justice would be the right person to decide that.
According to Canada’s extradition process, the judge would first decide if the claim is legal before the justice minister finally decides if the person to be extradited or not. Meng’s lawyers have asked for her case to be thrown out, based on statements made by former US President Donald Trump in December 2018, when he said he would help close a trade deal with China or would serve national security interests.
Canadian prosecutors say that a judge would not be able to determine whether Huawei was in fact a national security threat to the US, as suggested by the defence lawyers. Canadian prosecutor Robert Frater previously called Trump’s statements “vague”, and has referred to statements made by other US officials instead.
“Everyone in this courtroom knows that the elephant in the room in this case has always been the geopolitical winds that swirl around it,” Frater said on Thursday, adding that the defence tried to bring the elephant into court.
He urged the judge to “leave the politics to the politicians” and focus on facts and laws instead.
Defence attorney Eric Gottardi meanwhile, claims that while Trump may have been vague about the manner and timing of his apparent threat, however, he was not in fact vague about his intention to intervene.
Meng’s arrest broke down diplomatic relations between Ottawa and Beijing, particularly after two Canadians were detained just a few days following her arrested.
Although hearings were expected to last five days, both parties completed their arguments early this week.
