Meng Wanzhou is demanding access to Canada’s intelligence service documents concerning her arrest, items her legal team claims Ottawa is trying to "cover up", The South China Morning Post reported. Lawyers stated that the papers are relevant to Meng’s claims that she was a victim of an abuse of process during her arrest, which could prove that the ongoing extradition hearing in Canada should be dropped.
Meng and her legal team seek access to documents on her arrest given to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) by "human resources". Lawyers claim the papers have likely been the subject of "excessive redactions [and] overly broad claims of privilege".
"What happened, who was involved, the communications between the parties … these are highly relevant facts”, Meng’s lawyer, Scott Fenton, told the federal court on 27 July.
CSIS, however, says that it will not allow lawyers to see the documents, citing issues of national security. The organization claims that by giving access to its materials it would reveal secret sources.
Fenton says Meng was tricked by CSIS, which, he claims, spied on the woman for the FBI. According to the lawyer, the judge that ordered the arrest stated that Meng should be arrested immediately. Canadian federal police, however, delayed the arrest for three hours, while Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) conducted a "covert" investigation, interrogating Meng as well as seizing her electronic devices and obtaining their passwords.
"It was improper and an abuse to use CBSA powers to advance a foreign criminal investigation", Fenton stated.
Robert Frater, a lawyer representing US interests in the case, claims there was no conspiracy, and believes Meng’s rights and the terms of her arrest have not been violated.
Meng, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, and the daughter of the founder of the company, was arrested by Canadian authorities in Vancouver in 2018 at the request of the United States. The Trump administration claims Meng violated sanctions against Iran by defrauding the HSBC bank. She is facing extradition to the United States. Huawei and Meng deny the accusations and say that she is innocent.
China described her case as one of political victimization, as the woman was arrested amid the US trade war with Beijing and claims by Washington that Huawei poses a threat to US national security. The Trump administration has long accused the telecom giant of spying on it customers at the behest of the Chinese government, a claim which Beijing and Huawei consistently deny.
