环球邮报的报道：
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has denied an early attempt by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. executive Meng Wanzhou to gain her freedom, ruling that her alleged bank fraud is a crime in both Canada and the United States.
The decision in the extradition case, released Wednesday, means that Ms. Meng will continue living under partial house arrest in her Vancouver mansion, where she has been since shortly after she was arrested in December 2018 while connecting through Vancouver’s airport. Had the decision gone the other way, Ms. Meng could have been free to return to China.
In her 23-page ruling, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes stated that Ms. Meng allegedly lying to HSBC’s U.S. subsidiary in 2013 to obtain almost a billion dollars of credit would still constitute fraud if it occurred in Canada. She disagreed with Ms. Meng’s legal team that the essence of that allegation was not fraud, but the evasion of economic sanctions – which Canada does not have against Iran. Under the principle of double criminality, any criminal acts must be deemed an offence in both countries for an extradition to occur.
“The essence of the alleged wrongful conduct in this case is the making of intentionally false statements in the banker client relationship that put HSBC at risk,” Chief Justice Holmes wrote. “The US sanctions are part of the state of affairs necessary to explain how HSBC was at risk, but the are not themselves an intrinsic part of the conduct.”
Associate Chief Justice Holmes noted the allegations are unproven, but must be taken as true for the purpose of her ruling.
Ms. Meng is scheduled to return to court in June, when Associate Chief Justice Holmes will hear defence arguments that her rights were violated during her arrest at the airport.
The Huawei executive’s defence team has alleged that Canadian and U.S. authorities engaged in a “covert criminal investigation” and that border agents violated Ms. Meng’s Charter rights by forcing her to provide pass codes to her electronic devices before advising her of her legal rights.
Those arguments are expected to span the rest of the year, although appeals could add years more.
U.S. prosecutors had accused Ms. Meng of defrauding foreign banks by misrepresenting Huawei’s relationship with a company called Skycom Tech Co. Ltd., and sought to have her extradited to the United States to face charges. The U.S. Department of Justice described Skycom as a Huawei subsidiary that sold telecommunications equipment to Iran, putting the financial institutions at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against the Middle Eastern country.
Justice Holmes said the legal arguments from Ms. Meng’s defence team regarding double criminality were too narrow and would seriously limit Canada’s ability to fulfill its international obligations in the extradition context for fraud and economic crimes.
“The offence of fraud has a vast potential scope. It may encompass a very wide range of conduct, a large expanse of time, and acts, people, and consequences in multiple places or jurisdictions,” she wrote.
“Experience shows that many fraudsters benefit in particular from international dealings through which they can obscure their identity and the location of their fraudulent gains. For the double criminality principle to be applied in the manner Ms. Meng suggests would give fraud an artificially narrow scope in the extradition context.
“It would entirely eliminate, in many cases, consideration of the reason for the alleged false statements, and of how the false statements could cause the victim(s) loss or risk of loss.”
Ms. Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on Dec. 1, 2018, at the behest of U.S. authorities as she was transiting through Canada. The four-day extradition hearing was held in January before a packed courtroom in Vancouver.
Huawei is expected to respond to Wednesday’s decision shortly.
www.theglobeandmail.com
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has denied an early attempt by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. executive Meng Wanzhou to gain her freedom, ruling that her alleged bank fraud is a crime in both Canada and the United States.
The decision in the extradition case, released Wednesday, means that Ms. Meng will continue living under partial house arrest in her Vancouver mansion, where she has been since shortly after she was arrested in December 2018 while connecting through Vancouver’s airport. Had the decision gone the other way, Ms. Meng could have been free to return to China.
In her 23-page ruling, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes stated that Ms. Meng allegedly lying to HSBC’s U.S. subsidiary in 2013 to obtain almost a billion dollars of credit would still constitute fraud if it occurred in Canada. She disagreed with Ms. Meng’s legal team that the essence of that allegation was not fraud, but the evasion of economic sanctions – which Canada does not have against Iran. Under the principle of double criminality, any criminal acts must be deemed an offence in both countries for an extradition to occur.
“The essence of the alleged wrongful conduct in this case is the making of intentionally false statements in the banker client relationship that put HSBC at risk,” Chief Justice Holmes wrote. “The US sanctions are part of the state of affairs necessary to explain how HSBC was at risk, but the are not themselves an intrinsic part of the conduct.”
Associate Chief Justice Holmes noted the allegations are unproven, but must be taken as true for the purpose of her ruling.
Ms. Meng is scheduled to return to court in June, when Associate Chief Justice Holmes will hear defence arguments that her rights were violated during her arrest at the airport.
The Huawei executive’s defence team has alleged that Canadian and U.S. authorities engaged in a “covert criminal investigation” and that border agents violated Ms. Meng’s Charter rights by forcing her to provide pass codes to her electronic devices before advising her of her legal rights.
Those arguments are expected to span the rest of the year, although appeals could add years more.
U.S. prosecutors had accused Ms. Meng of defrauding foreign banks by misrepresenting Huawei’s relationship with a company called Skycom Tech Co. Ltd., and sought to have her extradited to the United States to face charges. The U.S. Department of Justice described Skycom as a Huawei subsidiary that sold telecommunications equipment to Iran, putting the financial institutions at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against the Middle Eastern country.
Justice Holmes said the legal arguments from Ms. Meng’s defence team regarding double criminality were too narrow and would seriously limit Canada’s ability to fulfill its international obligations in the extradition context for fraud and economic crimes.
“The offence of fraud has a vast potential scope. It may encompass a very wide range of conduct, a large expanse of time, and acts, people, and consequences in multiple places or jurisdictions,” she wrote.
“Experience shows that many fraudsters benefit in particular from international dealings through which they can obscure their identity and the location of their fraudulent gains. For the double criminality principle to be applied in the manner Ms. Meng suggests would give fraud an artificially narrow scope in the extradition context.
“It would entirely eliminate, in many cases, consideration of the reason for the alleged false statements, and of how the false statements could cause the victim(s) loss or risk of loss.”
Ms. Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on Dec. 1, 2018, at the behest of U.S. authorities as she was transiting through Canada. The four-day extradition hearing was held in January before a packed courtroom in Vancouver.
Huawei is expected to respond to Wednesday’s decision shortly.
Canada braces for economic retaliation from China following Meng Wanzhou court ruling
Ottawa sought to assure China that the court’s decision was a product of Canada’s legal system and out of its hands
www.theglobeandmail.com
