Vancouver (AFP)

The financial director of Chinese giant Huawei returned to a Canadian court on Wednesday for a final round of hearings devoted to her possible extradition to the United States, after about three years of legal battle and diplomatic crisis.

Meng Wanzhou, 49, daughter of the founder of the telecoms giant, Ren Zhengfei, was arrested on December 1, 2018 at Vancouver airport at the request of the United States, which wants to try her for bank fraud.

Carrying an electronic bracelet, Ms. Meng lives on probation in her luxurious property in the Canadian Pacific metropolis, in western Canada.

She is expected from Wednesday before the Supreme Court of British Columbia for more than two weeks of hearings.

Washington accuses Huawei number 2 of lying to an HSBC bank executive, during a meeting in Hong Kong in 2013, about the links between the Chinese group and its subsidiary Skycom, which sold equipment to Iran , exposing the establishment to US sanctions.

The applicant has always denied these accusations.

The evidence put forward by the United States "does not stand up to examination of the facts," said his lawyer, Mark Sandler.

For almost three years now, Ms. Meng's defense has tried to demonstrate that the American justice system was not competent to request her extradition, that the charges would not be prosecutable in Canada, that her rights had not been respected.

And also that former President Donald Trump had "poisoned" the procedure by affirming at the end of 2018 that he would not hesitate to intervene in the case against Ms. Meng if it allowed to obtain trade concessions from China.

But without winning the case.

For the prosecution, the elements put forward by the defense aim to "transform this procedure into a criminal trial which should be held" in the United States.

- Canadians imprisoned in China -

The arrest of the daughter of the founder of Huawei in Vancouver at the request of the United States has caused an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Ottawa.

A few days after his arrest, China arrested two Canadians: ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig, and businessman Michael Spavor.

Arrests seen as a retaliatory measure by Ottawa and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which Beijing denies.

The two men were tried on charges of "espionage" last spring during a closed-door trial and are awaiting sentencing.

China has also blocked billions of dollars in Canadian agricultural exports.

Both the Chinese government and the tech flagship have consistently denied Washington's accusations, with Beijing believing that the US administration is primarily seeking to weaken a leading Chinese company.

"The objective of the United States is to bring down Huawei and other Chinese high-tech companies, and Canada has played the accomplices of the United States. This whole affair is a serious political incident", explained in May 2020 the Chinese Embassy in Canada after a judicial setback at Camp Meng.

The hearings are due to end on August 20, but no decision is expected for a few months.

And in the event of an appeal, the procedure could take several more years.

© 2021 AFP