The Meng Wanzhou extradition hearing proceedings continued Tuesday with defence lawyers telling the court that Border Services officers were able to compel a collection of key information without informing Meng she has been arrested.
In a couple of surveillance video clips submitted by the defence (as provided by crown prosecutors), Meng was seen talking with two CBSA officers – with one officer whose role was originally to take notes not doing so in the videos.
Defence lawyer Richard Peck said the officers were able to compel Meng to release her passwords for her electronic devices – as well as the fact that her company, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., had an office in Iran.
The questioning veered beyond the jurisdiction of an entry inspection by border services agents, Peck argued.
“Notwithstanding Ms. Meng’s multiple requests, no one answered her,” Peck said. “No one told her she was a subject of arrest, and no one told her the warrant was requested by the United States.”
Peck notes that an RCMP officer finally arrested Meng and informed her of the case against her - as well as her right to counsel - at 2:15 pm on Dec. 1, much later than the border agents’ interrogation between 1 and 2 pm and some three hours after she was detained right after getting off the plane in Vancouver.
“It’s chilling, really,” Fenton told the court in Tuesday’s closing moments. “Because they [the border agents] knew they were seizing Ms. Meng’s property to advance a criminal investigation. These officers knew full well there were RCMP officers right around the corner. They knew there’s a warrant based on an extradition [request]. The only person that didn’t know was Ms Meng - and they arduously didn’t tell her.”
