Canada police says 'no idea' about how they obtained security code of Huawei CFO's home

A Canadian officer who took custody of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s electronics on the day of her arrest two years ago revealed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) obtained the passcodes of her electronic device, which defence lawyers allege violated her rights. According to the Global News, Constable Gurvinder Dhaliwal on November 23 said that officials had asked that Meng’s devices be seized and stored in special bags to prevent them from being erased remotely, however, he also testified in court that he was given the security code by another RCMP officer. 

Huawei CFO, Meng, has been for two years fighting extradition to the United States, where she faces fraud charges related to the company’s activities in Iran in breach of US Sanctions. She was arrested at Vancouver’s airport in December 2018, nearly three hours after the CBSA officials began questioning her as part of a border exam. As per reports, this month’s hearing has heard from police and customs officers involved in her arrest. 

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Dhaliwal told the BC Supreme Court under examination by Crown counsel John Gibb-Carsley that he wasn’t concerned when an officer handed him a piece of paper with the passcodes written on it after the immigration exam adjourned and she was being arrested by RCMP. He said that he never asked the officers from border services to obtain the passcodes or to ask any particular questions during Meng’s migration exam. Dhaliwal also added that he had “no idea” where the officials got the passcodes from. 

Meng’s lawyers have been collecting information they hope will support their allegations that Canadian officers improperly gathered evidence at the request of the US investigators under the guise of a routine border exam. On Monday, the court heard that security codes to at least one of Meng’s homes were also recorded on a piece of paper. 

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Meng’s extradition trial 

Meanwhile, Meng has denied charges against her in the US and is fighting extradition from her house arrest. A Canadian judge has denied Meng access to most of the documents her lawyers wanted to use to help prevent her extradition to the United States. Prosecutors have accused her of misleading a bank in the US on Huawei’s relationship with a company operating in Iran, putting it at risk of penalties for flouting US sanctions on Tehran. 

However, defence lawyers have argued that the case is about the US sanctions on Iran and not a bank fraud case, adding that Canada has repudiated the sanctions. In May, British Columbia’s Superior Court judge Heather Holmes ruled that the legal standard of double criminality had been met. Holmes said that Meng’s approach would seriously limit Canada’s ability to fulfil its international obligations in the extradition context for fraud and other economic crimes.

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