Vancouver (AFP)

Canadian judge announced on Thursday after four days of court hearing in Vancouver that she is holding a decision on whether to continue the extradition of a Chinese leader to the United States from telecoms giant Huawei.

"I reserve judgment on this matter," said British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes, who has not set a date for a decision. Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has been charged with bank fraud by the United States, which is demanding his extradition.

Washington accuses Ms. Meng of having lied to the HSBC bank about the relationship between Huawei and Skycom, a subsidiary that sold telecom equipment to Iran, which exposed the bank to a possible violation of American sanctions against Tehran. The applicant has always denied these allegations.

During this week of hearings, the debates focused on "double criminality": in order to be extradited to the United States, Ms. Meng must be prosecuted there for an offense also punishable in Canada.

The decision of Justice Holmes on this matter will determine the course of the proceedings. If the magistrate considers that the double criminality is not met, Meng Wanzhou could be quickly released.

Otherwise, the procedure will continue its course and new hearings are scheduled for April, June and September. They should relate to the conditions of his arrest at the Vancouver airport, which was deemed illegal by his lawyers.

This arrest on December 1, 2018 had caused an unprecedented crisis between Canada and China.

Nine days later, two Canadians, ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, were arrested by China and charged with spying.

During this week of hearings, the prosecutor pleaded the bank fraud to justify a possible extradition of the daughter of the founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, and to counter the assertions of the defense. On the contrary, the latter considers that the essential elements of fraud cannot be established.

Counsel for Ms. Meng argued that the charges against her in the United States have no equivalent in Canada. According to them, Canada - which had not taken the same sanctions against Iran at the material time - is asked to apply these sanctions in fact.

For the prosecution, the sanctions simply provide the context "to better understand why the economic interests of HSBC were at risk".

© 2020 AFP