On the second day of their attempt to convince a BC Supreme Court judge that Canadian and American authorities conspired to delay the Huawei CFO's arrest at Vancouver's Airport last December, Meng Wanzhou's defence lawyers fired back at accusations from Crown that they were fishing for a smoking gun.
"We are not on a proverbial fishing expedition," Scott Fenton retorted in open court. "We are not relying on conjecture or wishful thinking," he added.
Meng's lawyers have long alleged that Canada Border Services Agency officers detained the Huawei executive at YVR December 1st under the pretence of a routine secondary inspection to determine whether she and her bags were admissible to Canada.
Records released by the court to the public, which include handwritten notes by Mounties and sworn statements from CBSA officers, show Meng was questioned and her luggage searched for nearly three hours, before she was turned over to RCMP who arrested her and informed her that she was wanted in the U.S. on fraud charges.
Her lawyers allege the interrogation -- including the seizure of Meng's two mobile phones at the gate, which were placed in bags that prevented them from being wiped remotely -- by a CBSA officer, was meant to extract evidence that could eventually help American authorities in their case against her.
Both CBSA and Mounties have repeatedly said they did nothing wrong.
Canada's attorney general defended both agencies' actions in documents released Monday, writing neither acted "improperly, much less abusively."
On Tuesday, the Huawei CFO's lead lawyer called Meng's experience with the CBSA "anything but routine," pointing to the fact that her phones were seized and bagged -- allegedly at the FBI's request --the moment she stepped off her Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong.
"That is not routine. There is nothing routine about this," said Richard Peck, Q.C.
Meng's lawyers also drew attention to documents that appear to show she asked CBSA officers why she had been sent to secondary inspection, but was never informed there was a warrant for her arrest.
Both Peck and Fenton, along with lawyer Tony Paisana, walked Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes through CBSA surveillance video that showed Meng being questioned, highlighting examples they say, help paint a "pattern of extraordinarily serious misconduct."
Those included a CBSA officer who received a 17-second phone call defence lawyers called "mysterious," and couldn't account for with the notes and records they'd received thus far.
Minutes later, the same officer wrote down the passcodes to both of Meng's phones, which defence said she was "compelled" to turn over, not just in his notebook, but on a loose sheet of paper.
Over the next week, Crown will have a chance to respond to these accusations and try to convince the judge that the defence's explanation doesn't have an "air of reality," the threshold in disclosure hearings.
Justice Heather Holmes will have to decide whether there is some realistic possibility that defence's allegations can be substantiated, if she grants them access to additional emails, texts, and other communication they're requesting from and between Canadian and American agencies involved in Meng's case.
Meng is facing bank and wire fraud charges in the U.S., amidst accusations she mispresented Huawei's relationship with a subsidiary to bank in order to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran.
She and Huawei have repeatedly denied the charges. Her extradition hearing is scheduled for January 2020.
With files from The Canadian Press
