Meng Wanzhou's lawyers file new memo to Canadian court against US extradition request

Lawyers of Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou filed on Monday a new memo of arguments with the Supreme Court of British Columbia to fight extradition to the United States on bank fraud charges.

The memo claims that the US authorities have made "material misstatements" about the summary of a Powerpoint presentation which was delivered by Meng on August 22, 2013, to a HSBC banker in Hong Kong.

Due to the PPT, Huawei was accused of misleading HSBC into "continuing to provide banking services to Huawei, including processing US dollar transactions," which could make HSBC be fined under US sanctions laws against Iran.

The summary of the PPT is "grossly misleading," because it omitted reference to critical disclosures regarding Huawei's ongoing business operations in Iran.

The presentation was employed by the United States as important evidence against Meng over Huawei's business ties with Iran.

"As the PPT is the foundation for the fraud allegation against Ms. Meng, such omissions constitute, at best, gross negligence by the Requesting State," said the memo.

One of the key disclosures in the PPT is that Huawei conducts normal business activities in Iran and provides civilian telecommunications solutions. The company works with Skycom "in sales and service in Iran."

These omitted contents of the PPT provided HSBC with "the material facts it needed to know in order to assess whether there was any risk to HSBC in continuing to provide banking services to Huawei, including processing US dollar transactions related to Huawei's commerce in Iran," according to the memo, and Meng will submit these key disclosures.

Meng was arrested on December 1, 2018, at Vancouver International Airport at the request of the United States.

A document released on Friday by a Canadian court on Meng's arrest reportedly said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) received advance warning from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation on their plan to arrest Meng later that day.

The memo noted the United States refrained from taking part in the arrest to avoid being seen to exert influence. Meng's lawyers later said the memo reveals the CSIS' intentional cover-up of FBI involvement.