Huawei CFO calls for release of classified document in Canada trial

Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou and her lawyers are calling for the release of confidential documents ahead of her trial in Canada.

According to Reuters, Meng and her lawyers are set to attend the Canadian courtroom via telephone on Monday to ask for more information on the evidence that led to her arrest back in December 2018.

They are pushing for the release of more documents that might support their assertion that Canadian and American authorities committed abuses of process in the act of questioning Meng.

Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on a US warrant charging her with bank fraud for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have denied any abuses.

The hearings in Vancouver are expected to last five days and a decision on the matter is expected by 2 October. That will then allow the rest of the trial to proceed as planned, with hearings due to be wrapped up in April 2021.

The arrest of Meng Wanzhou was just another milestone in the US’s moves against the Chinese tech giant, which it has accused on numerous occasions of stealing intellectual property from American companies and of spying on behalf of Beijing.

In 2019 it put the company on a blacklist that would prevent it from doing business with US firms without prior approval from Washington.

It also advised international allies to ban the company’s involvement in the development of the new 5G networks on the grounds that it posed a risk to their national security. Countries such as the UK and Australia have already heeded this advice.