(Adds details of court proceedings)
By Moira Warburton
VANCOUVER, April 21 (Reuters) - A Canada judge has agreed to
delay Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou's U.S.
extradition hearings for three months, according to a ruling
read in court on Wednesday, handing her defense team a win.
Meng, 49, was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on
charges of bank fraud in the United States for allegedly
misleading HSBC about Huawei's business dealings in
Iran, causing the bank to break U.S. sanctions.
Meng's team had asked for more time to review additional
documents that became available after HSBC and Huawei reached a
settlement in Hong Kong. Extradition hearings were originally
set to wrap up in May.
Defense attorney Richard Peck argued in court on Monday that
they were requesting "a modest frame of time" to be able to read
the documents and potentially file them as evidence in the
British Columbia Supreme Court.
Lawyers representing the attorney general of Canada had
fought the adjournment of hearings set to start on Monday,
arguing that Meng's team had been given more time than was usual
in an extradition to make their case, and the contents of the
documents were too redacted to be relied upon as significant to
the case.
"The outstanding feature of this application is that it's
based on speculation," prosecutor Robert Frater said on Monday.
But Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes disagreed, siding
with the defense in granting an adjournment.
Her reasons will be read out on in court on April 28.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Vancouver
Editing by Chris Reese and Marguerita Choy)