Steph Deschamps / December 24, 2020
Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive threatened with extradition to the United States for bank fraud, called on Wednesday for Canada to relax the conditions of their client's bail.
The defense plans to file a request to change Ms Meng's bail conditions, defense attorney Mona Duckett told Vancouver court, adding that it concerned her daytime surveillance.
Since her arrest at Vancouver Airport in December 2018, Ms. Meng has been living on probation in one of the luxury homes she owns in this western Canadian city.
Meanwhile, two Canadians accused of spying in China are preparing to spend a third Christmas in prison without regular contact with the outside world. Ottawa claims that Beijing's arbitrary arrests of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in 2018 were in direct retaliation for Ms. Meng's arrest, which Beijing denies.
The prosecution is opposed to the idea of relaxing the conditions of Ms Meng's release on bail, countered prosecutor John Gibb-Carsley.
We have not seen the request, but it is not accepted, there is no consent, he said.
The judge did not rule on this request.
US justice accuses Ms. Meng of lying to an HSBC bank executive in 2013 about the links between Huawei and a subsidiary that sold telecoms equipment to Iran, exposing the bank to US sanctions.
Huawei and Ms. Meng deny the charges and say she has committed no crime under US or Canadian law.
The daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecoms giant was arrested on December 1, 2018 at Vancouver airport at the request of the United States, causing a major diplomatic crisis between China and Canada.
After her arrest, a judge released the 48-year-old leader on bail in exchange for, among other things, a curfew in one of her Vancouver residences, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet and a daytime surveillance by private security guards.
Hearings to determine whether Ms. Meng Wanzhou should be extradited are scheduled to resume on March 1 and end in mid-May.