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(Adds Meng lawyer comments)
By Tessa Vikander
VANCOUVER, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Huawei Chief Financial Officer
Meng Wanzhou returned to a Vancouver court on Tuesday, where her
lawyers argued for a second straight day that the U.S.
extradition request against Meng is founded in sanctions
violation.
Meng, 47, arrived in a Vancouver courtroom on Monday for the
first phase of a hearing that will last at least four days,
during which her legal team argued that "double criminality" was
at the heart of the case, as China repeated its call for Canada
to release her.
The United States has charged Meng with bank fraud, and
accused her of misleading HSBC Holdings Plc about
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's business in Iran.
Meng took her seat beside her translator at a desk, behind
her legal team.
Tuesday's hearing began with a nearly half-hour long
back-and-forth between defence lawyer Eric Gottardi and the
British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Heather Holmes. Gottardi
attempted to answer a question that Holmes had asked Monday,
about whether Meng's alleged bank fraud against HSBC could be
construed as a fraud if it had happened Canada.
In Gottardi's written argument submitted to the judge on
Tuesday, and which he explained verbally to the court room, he
said 'no.'
"The bank would face no risk of legal liability in Canada
under Canadian law as there are no legal consequences in Canada
for engaging in dollar transactions related to Iran and the bank
is an innocent victim," he wrote.
During the morning recess, Meng, wearing a long black wool
coat and stiletto heeled shoes, laughed and chatted in the
hallway with members of her more than 20-person team of
associates. The hearing will continue on Wednesday morning with
prosecutors expected to make statements.
Court proceedings show the United States issued the arrest
warrant, which Canada acted on in December 2018, because it
believes Meng covered up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to
sell equipment to Iran, breaking U.S. sanctions against the
country.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei's billionaire founder Ren
Zhengfei, remains free on bail in Canada, and has been living in
a mansion in Vancouver's exclusive Shaughnessy neighbourhood.
She has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition in
part because her alleged conduct was not illegal in Canada, an
argument commonly called "double criminality."
Unlike the United States, Canada did not have sanctions
against Iran at the time Canadian officials authorized the start
of the extradition process, her lawyers have said.
On Monday, defense lawyer Richard Peck told the court that
in a typical case, double criminality is not contentious. "This
case however is founded on an allegation of breach of U.S.
sanctions, sanctions which Canada has expressly repudiated," he
said.
Peck said the United States cast this matter as a case of
fraud against a bank, which he described as "an artifice."
"In reality, sanctions violation is the essence of the
alleged misconduct ... the United States has a global interest
in enforcing its Iran sanctions. Sanctions drive this case,"
Peck added.
Meng's legal team is currently only scheduled to call
evidence in the last week of April, and a second phase of the
extradition hearing, focusing on abuse of process and whether
Canadian officials followed the law while arresting Meng, is set
to begin in June. Closing arguments are expected in the last
week of September and first week of October.
Legal experts have said it could be years before a final
decision is reached in the case, since Canada's justice system
allows many decisions to be appealed.
The case has had a chilling effect on relations between
Ottawa and Beijing. China has called Meng's arrest politically
motivated.
(Writing by Denny Thomas
Editing by Bill Berkrot and Lisa Shumaker)
