Ottawa/UNI: Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou's lawyers on Friday applied to a Canadian court for a stay in the proceedings for her extradition to the United States.
Meng's lawyers argued that US President Donald Trump and other senior members of the administration intend to use Meng "as a bargaining chip in a trade dispute," adding that Trump's stated willingness to intervene in the case is "offensive and ominous", The New York Times reported.
Meng's lawyers also said that the United States misled Canada about the evidence in Meng's case, calling the omission "far below the expected standard of diligence, candour and accuracy," according to the documents.
Meng was arrested on December 1, 2018 at Vancouver International Airport at the request of the United States, which is seeking her extradition as she is accused by US authorities of committing bank fraud for misleading HSBC about Huawei's relationship with a company operating in Iran, putting HSBC at risk of fines and penalties for breaking US sanctions on Tehran. Both Meng and Huawei have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
In May China had expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to a Canadian court's ruling on the case against Meng, and has made solemn representations to Canada on the issue.
On June 15, Meng's lawyers filed a memo of arguments with the Supreme Court of British Columbia to fight extradition to the United States on bank fraud charges.
Meng is the daughter of billionaire Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the company at the center of next generation 5G wireless technology and a long-running dispute with the Trump administration.
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