Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou returns to court following a break in Vancouver March 29, 2021. — Reuters picVANCOUVER, April 20 — Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou yesterday requested a four-month delay in her extradition case in Canada, citing newly obtained documents from investment bank HSBC her team claims are key to her defence.
Huawei won an April 12 court ruling in Hong Kong to obtain records from HSBC, the investment bank at the heart of Meng’s extradition and fraud prosecution. The company had previously failed to get the documents from a court in the UK, where HSBC is headquartered. “It is the latest in a series of attempts to turn these proceedings into a trial that should properly take place in the ,” the Canadian attorney general argued in response. “It rests on unsubstantiated allegations... vigorously denied by the prosecution.
The case has dragged on for nearly two and a half years since Meng’s December 2018 arrest on a US warrant during a Canadian airport stopover. Her arrest has sparked a major diplomatic rift between Canada and China: soon after, Beijing arrested two Canadian citizens — former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — on national security charges.