VANCOUVER -- A judge says he will reserve his decision on whether to loosen bail restrictions for Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou.
Meng's lawyers want her to be allowed to leave her Vancouver home outside the hours of her curfew without being accompanied by private security staff, who they say put her at greater risk of contracting COVID-19.
The chief financial officer for Huawei is wanted in the United States on fraud charges based on allegations that both she and the company deny.
Justice William Ehrcke of the B.C. Supreme Court says he will reserve his decision and raised the possibility of issuing it at the end of the month.
The court heard today that security staff have reported being monitored while accompanying Meng in Vancouver, though they have not had to intervene to physically protect her since she was released on bail after her arrest on a U.S. warrant at Vancouver's airport in December 2018.
The president of Lions Gate Risk Management, Doug Maynard, testified his staff have also reported threatening letters and Chinese officials have demanded that she be allowed to return to China, citing threats against her.
U.S. officials allege Meng misrepresented Huawei's business dealings in Iran, putting the bank HSBC at risk of violating American sanctions.
Meng's lawyers are fighting her extradition with several legal arguments claiming she was subjected to an abuse of process and she should be freed.
They allege Meng's arrest was unlawful, that U.S. authorities misled Canadian officials in their summary of the case, that Meng was used as a political pawn by U.S. President Donald Trump and that the United States is trying to assert jurisdiction where it doesn't exist under international law.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2021.
