VANCOUVER, British Columbia (CN) – Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was back in B.C. Supreme Court Monday morning in downtown Vancouver after spending the weekend in jail as she continues her bid for bail on charges of defrauding international banks in connection with Huawei's business dealings in Iran.
Ahead of the day’s proceedings, however, documents released by the court to the media shed light on the reasons for Meng’s arrest.According to an affidavit by Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Winston Yep, an officer with the force’s foreign and domestic liaison unit, the U.S. government requested Meng’s arrest on a provisional warrant based on allegations that “starting in at least 2009, Meng and others conspired to make misrepresentations to numerous financial institutions.”
“The motivation for these misrepresentations stemmed from Huawei’s need to move money out of countries that are subject of U.S. or EU sanctions – such as Iran, Syria, or Sudan – through the international banking system,” the warrant states.
According to the affidavit, U.S. authorities uncovered a conspiracy between Meng and others at Huawei to misrepresent to banks – including Hong Kong-based HSBC – the company’s control of Skycom between 2009 and 2014. Specifically, the affidavit says Meng and others lied about Skycom being operated as Huawei’s Iran affiliate in order to obtain and keep banking services from multinational institutions despite sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union.
The original warrant, according to Yep, was issued Aug.22, 2018, by U.S. District Judge Roanne L. Mann in the Eastern District of New York. Canada’s attorney general authorized the arrest after the U.S. learned Meng was traveling through Vancouver en route to Mexico on Dec. 1, the day she was arrested.
After dealing with procedural issues Monday, Meng's lawyer David J.Martin picked up where he left off Friday, asking for his client’s release under strict conditions that include hiring a private investigation firm run by former police officers and GPS monitoring.
First on the stand was Scott Filer, chief executive officer of Lions Gate Risk Management, a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and founder of Lions Gate. Meng's lawyer Tamara Duncan led Filer through his company’s history and areas of expertise. He said Lions Gate is staffed primarily by former law enforcement and military personnel and hired by corporate clients for security services above and beyond what a company's internal staff would typically handle. Duncan asked Filer if he was confident that Lions Gate could handle Meng should she be released on bail.
"There's never any guarantees to these situations," he said. "Security is not an exact science."
But he said the combination of technology and a "human element" would likely be effective to keep tabs on Meng. Filer said his staff would refuse to allow Meng to enter situations they couldn't control and would be prepared to make a citizen's arrest if she fell out of line. Filer then walked the court through how his company along with a GPS monitoring firm would use surveillance technology in the case.
Crown prosecutor John Gibb-Carsley then questioned Filer,asking first how Lions Gate determined itself to be a "leading" firm in the field of risk management.
"You'll agree with me that it's not risk elimination," Gibb-Carsley said.
Filer agreed, acknowledging this would be his company's first time providing services to someone on bail.
Gibb-Carsley then asked whether Flier could guarantee that Meng wouldn't flee under his company’s watch.
"There's never a guarantee for anything in this business," Filer said.
After a break, the court heard from Stephen Tan from Recovery Science Corp. which monitors subjects in the justice system with ankle bracelets. Tan spoke of "inclusion" and "exclusion" zones for defendants and said monitoring Meng would be possible using the company's technology.
