Huawei CFO Lawyers Call Negligence Over Unpreserved Records
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou’s lawyers described the Canadian police as negligent over the destruction of what they believe are crucial records that would invalidate orders for extradition to the U.S.
According to the defense, abuse was observed in the process, including alleged coordination between Canadian and American authorities during her detainment, which would invalidate the extradition orders against Meng Wanzhou, Huawei CFO and the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei.
Defense lawyer Scott Fenton specifically underlined Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) staff sergeant Ben Chang as the most important witness with regards to whether or not police wrongfully shared identifying information with the FBI about Meng’s electronic device.
Failure to review or preserve Chang’s texts and emails after he retired in 2019 alongside automatic destruction of the data is «unacceptable, unexplained negligence», Fenton said.
Adverse Inference
Fenton has asked the British Columbia Supreme Court judge to make an adverse inference – the assumption that unfavorable evidence for the prosecutors would emerge if Chang was cross-examined – and not rely on sworn statements submitted by the RCMP sergeant.
Last week, Meng’s lawyers also argued that Canadian border officials were carrying out covert investigation for the FBI, disputing their stated motives and their testimonial made last year that they were merely following normal procedures.
Elsewhere, Meng’s lawyers are also claiming that protocols have been broken including accusations that she did not mislead HSBC about business dealings with Iran and that the British lender has sufficient information to assess the risk for clearing the U.S. dollar transactions.
