Canada gives green signal for extradition process of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou
DHARAMSALA, March 2: Canada has given the permission to go ahead with the extradition proceedings of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is wanted in the United States on fraud allegations.
The Canadian government, as expected, on Friday approved extradition proceedings against the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, prompting a furious reaction from China, the Reuters reported.
“Today, Department of Justice Canada officials issued an authority to proceed, formally commencing an extradition process in the case of Ms Meng Wanzhou,” the report said citing a statement issued by the Canadian government.
China has denounced the decision and yet again demanded her release.
Meng will now appear in a Vancouver court later next week on March 6, where a date will be set for her extradition hearing.
The report, however, says that It could be years, though, before Meng is sent to the United States because of Canada’s slow-moving justice system which it said allows many decisions to be appealed.
The latest development has left Meng’s lawyers a disappointed lot, and they have described the US’ fraud charges against her ‘politically motivated.’
The Huawei chief financial officer was arrested by the Canadian authorities in Vancouver late last year on the behest of the US government and she is currently under house arrest.
The relationship between the two countries nosedived after her arrest. Following her arrest, China has reportedly detained 13 Canadians, off the lot, at least five of them are still being held in detention on undisclosed charges.
Huawei is said to have close links with the Chinese military, the company was founded by Meng’s father, Ren Zhengfei, a former officer at the People’s Liberation Army. Besides selling cell phones, it also sells equipment that is part of the global roll-out of the fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks which experts say could be used for undetected surveillance or intelligence gathering by the communist regime.
