Huawei CFO’s lawyers argue U.S. extradition case does not pass Canadian law

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Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to attend her extradition hearing at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada January 21, 2020. REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou returned to a Vancouver court on Tuesday, where her lawyers argued for a second straight day that the U.S. extradition request against Meng is founded in sanctions violation.

Meng, 47, arrived in a Vancouver courtroom on Monday for the first phase of a hearing that will last at least four days, during which her legal team argued that “double criminality” was at the heart of the case, as China repeated its call for Canada to release her.

The United States has charged Meng with bank fraud, and accused her of misleading HSBC Holdings Plc about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s [HWT.UL] business in Iran.

Meng sat beside her translator at a desk, behind her legal team.

Tuesday’s hearing began with a nearly half-hour long back-and-forth between defense lawyer Eric Gottardi and the British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Heather Holmes. Gottardi attempted to answer a question that Holmes had asked Monday, about whether Meng’s alleged bank fraud against HSBC could be construed as a fraud if it had happened Canada.

In Gottardi’s written argument submitted to the judge on Tuesday, and which he explained verbally to the court room, he said ‘no.’

“The bank would face no risk of legal liability in Canada under Canadian law as there are no legal consequences in Canada for engaging in dollar transactions related to Iran and the bank is an innocent victim,” he wrote.

During the morning recess, Meng, wearing a long black wool coat and stiletto heeled shoes, laughed and chatted in the hallway with members of her more than 20-person team of associates. The hearing will continue on Wednesday morning with prosecutors expected to make statements.

Court proceedings show the United States issued the arrest warrant, which Canada acted on in December 2018, because it believes Meng covered up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran, breaking U.S. sanctions against the country.

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