Canada court rejects Huawei CFO push for publication ban on new evidence in U.S. extradition case
Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou's request for a
publication ban on new evidence her legal team received from HSBC has been
denied by a Canadian court in her U.S. extradition case, a lawyer involved in
the case said on Friday.
Meng, 49, was arrested in December 2018 for allegedly
misleading HSBC (HSBA.L) about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's (HWT.UL) business
dealings in Iran, causing the bank to break U.S. sanctions.
She faces a Canadian government extradition attempt on
charges of bank fraud in the United States.
Canadian prosecutors had fought her request for a
publication ban on documents relevant to her case received from HSBC via a
court in Hong Kong. The documents were provided on the condition that Meng make
a reasonable effort to keep them private.
The British Columbia Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the
request, said Daniel Coles, the legal counsel representing a consortium of
media outlets - including Reuters - who argued against the publication ban.
The reasons for the denial were not made public, pending
issues relating to a previous publication ban, Coles said.
Prosecutors representing the Canadian government had argued
that "to be consistent with the open court principle, a ban must be
tailored" and details should be selectively redacted from the public,
rather than the whole documents.
Meng has been under house arrest in Vancouver for more than
two years and fighting her extradition. Meng has said she is innocent.
Alykhan Velshi, vice president of corporate affairs at
Huawei Canada, said in an emailed statement the company accepts the court's
decision, adding that "the truth in these documents can now come
out."
The Canadian government and HSBC were not immediately
available for comment.
The open court principle requires that court proceedings be
open and accessible to the public and to the media.
It is unclear what documents Huawei obtained from HSBC, but
defense lawyers argue they are relevant to Meng's case. Hearings in the
extradition case are scheduled to finish in late August.
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