Four abuses alleged in Meng extradition case

Defense lawyers for Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou argued in a Canadian court on Monday that staying extradition proceedings is the only appropriate remedy to "a range of abuses" in her extradition case.

According to Meng's lawyers, the first of four abuses involved comments from then-US president Donald Trump that he reserved the right to weigh in on the case against Meng if it would help the United States secure a trade deal with China. The US is seeking Meng's extradition.

The second abuse refers to Canadian authorities improperly communicating with their US counterparts, including allegedly sharing identifying details about her electronic devices, which violated Meng's constitutional rights in Canada.

The third abuse, according to the defense team, which was argued last week in the court in Vancouver, is that the US has misled Canada by both misconducting evidence and omitting key details in order to establish fraud, which has "corroded the fairness "of the Canadian legal proceedings.

Finally, Meng's lawyers said the US has no jurisdiction to charge a Chinese national for actions occurring outside the US, which means Canada would be violating international law if she were sent to the US to face charges.

The numerous allegations of abuse of process amount to a serious violation of Canada's rule of law, according to defense lawyer Richard Peck.

"To proceed would condone conduct antithetical to Canadian values and the rule of law. A stay is relevant due to cumulative effect," Peck told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

"The rule of law is the source and factor of all social organization. So that is the start of what we say should be the driving factor or consideration in this case."

In trying to persuade the judge, Peck cited two previous cases that established the bar for the extraordinary remedy of a stay of proceedings to rectify abuse.

The abuse of process doctrine provides courts with the authority to order that a proceeding be stayed on the basis that it is unfair or otherwise sufficiently undermines the integrity of the judicial system.

'Ransom' comments

Citing the allegations of abuse of process, Peck told the judge that Meng's case met the test for a stay of proceedings.

Trump's comments were the very definition of "ransom", Peck told Holmes.

Meng, 49, the chief financial officer of Huawei, was arrested by Canadian authorities at the request of the US, at Vancouver International Airport on Dec 1,2018. She is accused of misrepresenting the Chinese telecommunications company's relationship with tech firm Skycom in a Power-Point presentation to HSBC in 2013 and putting the British bank at risk of violating US sanctions against Iran. Meng and Huawei have repeatedly denied the accusations.

Another defense lawyer, Tony Paisana, urged the judge to consider the four alleged abuses of process as "branches of the same tree" and assess their cumulative impact.

The Crown, representing the US, has denied any abuse of process occurred.

The hearings are expected to conclude by Aug 20.