Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou claim she was the target of a “covert criminal investigation” designed by Canadian and U.S. authorities to illegally detain and search the Huawei executive when she landed in Vancouver in December 2018.
The allegation is fleshed out in hundreds of pages of documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday in a bid for copies of correspondence between agencies during the crucial hours surrounding Meng’s arrest after she arrived at Vancouver International Airport from Hong Kong on Dec.1.
The material includes video of the Huawei chief financial officer in the moments after she stepped off a Cathay Pacific flight and into a global dispute that continues to rock relations between Canada and China.
Meng’s lawyers claim notes included in the documents suggest RCMP originally planned to arrest Meng on the plane, but decided to have the Canada Border Services Agency detain her instead in order to collect evidence at the direction of the Canadian Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
‘Economic and political gain’
The defence claims Meng’s Charter rights were violated and that the Canadian judicial process is being abused in order to further the economic and political interests of the United States as it fights a trade war with China.
“The U.S. is attempting to use these extradition proceedings for economic and political gain,” Meng claims in a document outlining her case.
The 47-year-old was arrested on a U.S. extradition warrant last December on a stopover from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires.
According to an indictment unsealed in January, Meng and Huawei face 13 criminal counts of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction in the U.S. The charges relate to an alleged scheme to circumvent sanctions against Iran through a shadow company in Tehran that prosecutors say was actually controlled by Huawei.
Meng is accused of lying about the relationship — putting U.S. banks at risk of violating sanctions.
She is currently living under a form of house arrest in one of two multi-million dollar homes she owns in Vancouver, after being released on $10 million bail.
The latest documents were filed in support of an application for disclosure of notes, texts, emails and other correspondence between RCMP, CBSA, the Canadian government and the FBI.
The defence claims the material supports the allegation the agencies were in constant contact with each other in the hours after Meng was detained but before she was actually arrested.
The court will hear the application next month. Meng’s extradition hearing itself is set to begin in January.
‘Complicated’ case
The affidavits include handwritten notes from the RCMP members involved in Meng’s arrest.
One states that the case is “complicated” and another — written in advance of her arrival — says that officers didn’t want to make an online request for her flight manifest, fearing it wouldn’t stay secret.
According to the documents, once Meng was detained by CBSA officers and sent for secondary inspection, she repeatedly asked why. Her lawyers claim she was given no answer.
Instead, she was allegedly asked “if her company sold products in countries that they should not.”
“I rephrased the question and asked the subject if her company sold products or did business in Iran,” one CBSA officer’s notes read. “The subject initially stated ‘I don’t know.’ ”
‘You’re saying I committed fraud’
The documents also include a transcript of Meng’s interview with two RCMP officers at the time she was officially arrested, three hours after she was sent for secondary inspection.
She appears confused as officers tell her that they’re arresting her and sending her to the United States for committing fraud.
“Me?” she replies.
“You think that … You’re saying I committed fraud in the United States?” she later asks. “I’m not clear what has happened. Why would I have an arrest warrant, and I have got involved in fraud?”
She is given a basic outline of the case and responds: “You’re saying, because of my company, you’re arresting me?”
Meng then asks if she can call family members and is told: “You cannot.”
‘It would be unconscionable’
In the months since Meng’s arrest Canada has faced relentless pressure from China to release the Huawei executive.
Two Canadians are currently in prison accused of spying as part of allegations Canadian officials have described as retaliation for Meng’s arrest and two others are facing the death penalty for their roles in drug trafficking rings.
China has also blocked the sale of Canadian canola seed, affecting the fortunes of Prairie farmers.
Meng’s defence team has previously suggested that Canada should not do the bidding of the United States, pointing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s assertion that he might intervene in the case if it could secure a trade deal.
In the latest court filings, they note the “international political firestorm” sparked by her arrest and Trump’s “ominous” statements.
“It would be unconscionable to return her to the U.S. in this climate,” the lawyers state.
“The U.S. should be disentitled from using the [Immigration] Act to seek [Meng’s] extradition in circumstances where its President has made odious statements undermining the rule of law and disrespecting Canada’s sovereignty.”
“It provides important context to what occurred upon [Meng’s] arrival in Canada on December 1, 2018 … the U.S. has engaged in a long-standing effort to target [Meng] and others affiliated with her employer, Huawei Technologies.”
孟晚舟的律师声称，当华为高管孟晚舟于2018年12月抵达温哥华时，她就成为了加拿大和美国当局设计的“秘密刑事调查”的目标，他们的目的就是对这位高管进行非法搜查并将其拘留。
这一指控出现在周二提交给卑诗省最高法院的数百页文件中，这些文件是为了索要孟于12月1日从香港抵达温哥华国际机场后被逮捕后各个机构之间的通信副本。
这些材料还包括这位华为首席财务官在登上国泰航空(Cathay Pacific)的一架航班并卷入一场全球纠纷后的视频。这场纠纷现在仍在动摇加中两国的关系。发布于2018年12月1日的安全视频显示，孟晚舟在温哥华国际机场被拘留。这段视频中有大约3个半小时的时长显示官员在检查孟晚舟的行李。
孟的律师声称在这些文件中的笔记显示皇家骑警原计划在飞机上将孟晚舟逮捕，但是最终决定由加拿大边境服务署将其拘留，以便在加拿大司法部和美国联邦调查局的指导下搜集证据。
经济和政治利益
辩方声称，孟晚舟的宪章权利受到侵犯，加拿大的司法程序被滥用，目的是在美国与中国打贸易战之际，促进美国的经济和政治利益。
孟在一份概述她案件的文件中称：“美国正试图利用这些引渡程序获取经济和政治利益。”
“这为2018年12月1日孟抵达加拿大时发生的事情提供了重要背景。美国长期以来一直致力于打击孟和华为技术有限公司(Huawei Technologies)的其他附属机构。”
去年12月，根据美国的引渡令，孟晚舟在从香港到布宜诺斯艾利斯的中途转机时被逮捕。根据今年1月公布的一份起诉书显示，孟和华为在美国面临13项共谋、欺诈和阻碍的刑事指控。这些指控涉及一项涉嫌通过伊朗首都德黑兰一家影子公司规避美国对伊朗制裁的计划。
孟被控在关系问题上撒谎，使美国的银行面临违反制裁的风险。
她最终在缴纳了1000万的保释金之后被软禁在温哥华两套价值数百万房产中的一套中。
最新的文件是为了证明加拿大皇家骑警，加拿大边境服务局，加拿大政府以及美国联邦调查局之间的通信材料是在孟晚舟逮捕之前进行的，辩方声称以上机构在逮捕孟晚舟之后数小时一直在互相沟通。
法院将在下个月审理这项申请。孟引渡听证会本身定于明年1月开始。
案情复杂
宣誓书中包括参与逮捕孟的皇家骑警成员的手写笔记。其中一人表示，此案“复杂”，另一名骑警在孟晚舟抵达之前写道，警方不想在网上查询她的航班的乘客名单，担心会泄密。
据文件显示，孟晚舟被加拿大边境服务局的官员拘捕后又对其进行了二次检查，她反复询问原因，她的律师则表示她没有得到任何回复。相反她还被问道“她的公司是否向一些不应该出售商品的国家出售某些产品。”
加拿大边境服务局的一位成员表示，他随后换了一种说法，他问孟“她的公司是否向伊朗出售了一些商品或者在和伊朗做生意”。孟晚舟最初的回答是“我不知道”。
被逮捕孟晚舟很困惑
这些文件还包括孟在被正式逮捕时与皇家骑警两名警官的谈话记录，当时距离她被送去接受第二次检查只有三个小时。
她看起来很困惑，因为警察告诉她，他们正在逮捕她，并以欺诈罪将她送往美国。
她被告知案件的基本情况，并问道:“你的意思是，因为我的公司，你要逮捕我?”
然后孟问她是否可以给家人打电话，她被告知:“你不能。”
这是不合理的
在孟被捕后的几个月里，中方一直在向加拿大施压，要求释放华为高管孟晚舟。
两名加拿大人目前被控从事间谍活动，加拿大官员称这是对孟被捕的报复，另外两名加拿大人因参与毒品走私团伙而面临死刑。
加拿大油菜籽也遭到中国禁令，加拿大农民受到不小影响。
孟的辩护团队此前曾表示，加拿大不应该听从美国的命令，他们指出，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)声称，如果加拿大能够达成贸易协议，他可能会介入此案。在最新的法庭文件中，团队指出，孟晚舟被捕和特朗普的声明引发了“国际政治风暴”。他们表示在这种情况下，将孟晚舟送往美国是不合理的。