A Canadian judge has adjourned Chinese Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearing till August, giving her team ample time to review the documents that were newly obtained from investment bank HSBC which according to them are key to her defense.
The delay that Meng requested for upends the scheduled recent resumption of the British Columbia Supreme Court proceedings, which according to schedule were to last three weeks and be the last leg of her two-and-a-half-year legal battle to prevent being extradited to the United States to face charges of bank fraud.
While talking to the court, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said: “This application has been granted.
“The remainder of the proceedings… will be rescheduled to begin on or around August 3, 2021.”
She said further that her reasons for the ruling would be published in writing next week.
She also ruled that “Any additional applications arising from the documents Ms. Meng will be receiving from HSBC will need to have been made and determined before (August).”
Meng is the daughter of Huawei’s founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei. She is accused by United States prosecutors of misrepresenting to HSBC connections between Huawei and a company that offered telecoms equipment for sale to Iran in violation of US sanctions.
She has however denied hiding the relationship Huawei had with Skycom, a former subsidiary, from HSBC.
Earlier in April, Huawei disclosed it had reached an agreement with HSBC in Hong Kong to get the documents. Huawei had previously failed to obtain the documents from a court in the UK, where HSBC’s headquarters is located.
According to the original Huawei summons that was sighted by AFP, Meng was trying to get HSBC bank documents on compliance, sanctions, risk evaluation, and records connected to a PowerPoint presentation she made to HSBC executives at a Hong Kong tea house in an effort to secure loans.
