(Adds details from court proceedings)
By Tessa Vikander and Moira Warburton
VANCOUVER/TORONTO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - A key witness involved
in the arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou two
years ago has decided not to testify in the Canadian court as
part of Meng's ongoing witness cross-examination, the court
heard on Monday.
Meng arrived back in the British Columbia Supreme Court on
Monday as her U.S. extradition hearing resumed. Her lawyers are
fighting to establish that Meng's rights were violated during
the events leading up to her arrest. Her lawyers called the
refusal of a senior Canadian police officer to testify in court
"concerning."
Meng, 48, was arrested in December 2018 at Vancouver
International Airport by Canadian police, on a warrant from the
United States. She is facing charges of bank fraud for allegedly
misleading HSBC about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's
business dealings in Iran, causing the bank to break
U.S. sanctions.
Meng has said she is innocent and is fighting the
extradition from under house arrest in Vancouver, where she owns
a home in one of Canada's most expensive neighborhoods.
On Monday defense lawyer Richard Peck told the court that
one of the key witnesses, Staff Sergeant Ben Chang with the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), would not be testifying
after seeking counsel from a lawyer.
According to court documents, Chang, who is now retired,
allegedly sent details of Meng’s electronic devices to the FBI.
Chang denied the allegation in an affidavit submitted to courts.
Peck told the court that Chang's refusal to testify is "a
matter that will be of some concern," adding that "there may be
any number of consequences from his refusal to testify."
Monday kicks off 10 days of testimony that are a
continuation of hearings that were set to wrap up in early
November but ran overtime, necessitating more hearings to be
scheduled.
Lawyers for both Meng and the Canadian government will
cross-examine Canadian law enforcement officers and border
officials who were involved in the initial investigation and
arrest of Meng.
Defense attorney Mona Duckett will question Canada Border
Services Agency Superintendent Bryce McRae on Monday.
Meng's lawyers are fighting to get her extradition dismissed
on the basis of alleged abuses of process, arguing they
constitute violations of her civil rights laid out in Canada's
Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In the first week of hearings, prosecutors for the Canadian
government tried to prove that Meng's arrest was by the book and
any lapses in due process should not impact the validity of her
extradition.
The extradition hearings are scheduled to wrap up in April
2021, though the potential for appeals mean the case could drag
on for years.
Diplomatic relations between Ottawa and Beijing became rocky
following Meng's arrest. Soon after her detention, China
arrested Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig on
espionage charges.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Toronto and Tessa Vikander in
Vancouver;
Editing by Denny Thomas, Leslie Adler and Nick Zieminski)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)
