The decision on Friday by the Canadian court due to rule on the extradition to the United States of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, to reject evidence that the company itself had described as key, represents a serious setback in his defense.
Before hearing the judgment of the Supreme Court of the province of British Columbia (Canada), the company told Efe that the documents it wanted to include would reverse the case and cause its “collapse”.
Lawyers for Meng, 49, accused by the United States of bank fraud to circumvent sanctions that Washington has imposed on Iran, applied to Justice Heather Holmes of the Supreme Court of British Columbia on June 30 , the inclusion of internal documents from the British bank HSBC.
According to the United States, in 2013, Meng held a meeting in Hong Kong with senior HSBC executives to whom he presented a PowerPoint document that hid the relationship between Huawei and Skycom, a company operating in Iran, for what he would have committed fraud. avoid penalties.
Huawei’s Canadian spokesperson Alykhan Velshi told EFE on Thursday that the documents prove that “HSBC, at its highest level, was aware of the relationship between Huawei and Skycom at all times and that, of course, Meng “hadn’t lied. the financial institution.
USA “MENTI”
Velshi added that the more than 300 pages of documents, which Huawei obtained after a court order in Hong Kong, prove that it was the United States that “lied to the Canadian government and the country’s courts in the hope of ‘obtain Meng’s extradition “.
The Canadian prosecutor’s office had opposed the incorporation of the documents into the case, seeing them as irrelevant to the extradition process and more appropriate for his hypothetical trial in the United States.
Today, Judge Holmes, who will announce in the coming days the reasons for her rejection of Meng’s lawyers’ request, accepted the position of the Canadian prosecutor’s office.
The move is a blow to Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the company’s founder, which was owned by Canada in December 2018 at the behest of the United States as it stopped over in Vancouver en route to the Mexico.
Velshi added that the HSBC documents are essential in proving Washington’s accusations against Meng to be “false” and predicted that their admission by the Canadian court would derail the case.
STRIKE THE DEFENSE
The ruling means Justice Holmes will not assess the contents of the documents at the final hearing of the case, scheduled for August, when she hears arguments for and against Meng’s extradition to the United States.
In a statement, Huawei noted that although it respects the court ruling, it “regrets the outcome” and insisted that although the HSBC documents were not included in the process, “they clearly demonstrate that HSBC, including its senior executives, were aware of the relationship with Skycom and its activities in Iran. ”
Meng’s arrest sparked a serious diplomatic conflict between Canada and China. Hours after the executive’s arrest in 2018, China detained two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on leave, and Michael Spavor, a businessman specializing in trade with North Korea.
The two men were tried in March this year by Chinese courts for “collecting, providing and selling state secrets to foreign forces”.
Canada denounced the “arbitrary” arrest of its two citizens and that the trials were held behind closed doors, without guarantees for the accused.
Meanwhile, Meng is in Canada on bail and lives in Vancouver with his family in one of the two mansions the heir to the Huawei empire owns in this Canadian city.
Julio Cesar Rivas
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