A lawyer for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is accusing officials involved in her arrest of negligence, arguing there was a “deliberate and flagrant” disregard for her rights.
Tony Paisana made the remarks at the start of a B.C. Supreme Court hearing on arguments alleging there was misconduct by Canadian and U.S. officials involved in her arrest over two years ago.
Meng’s legal team is trying to convince the judge overseeing her extradition case to order a stay of proceedings on the basis that she was subjected to an abuse of process.
Paisana says evidence will be presented to support allegations that Canadian officials ignored an order for her immediate arrest, abused their powers for the improper purpose of a criminal investigation and failed in their duties in other ways.
In court documents, lawyers for Canada’s attorney general say the allegation of misconduct is supported only by speculation and innuendo, and is not supported by the evidence.
Meng was arrested at Vancouver’s airport in 2018 at the request of the United States to face fraud charges that both she and the telecom company deny.
“Overall, we say the officers at the heart of this case, at times, demonstrated a lack of regard for the charter, for this court’s role in overseeing their conduct and, frankly, the truth,” Paisana told the court on Wednesday.
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The Canadian Press
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