Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Border officer says Meng had choice to share codes

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 30 Oct, 2020 07:29 PM
  • Border officer says Meng had choice to share codes

A border officer denies that he led Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to believe that she was required to share the passcodes to her phones when he asked for them before her arrest two years ago.

The B.C. Supreme Court is hearing evidence this week that Meng's defence team hopes will bolster an argument they will make next year during extradition proceedings that she was subject to an abuse of process.

The defence alleges that Meng was subjected to a "co-ordinated strategy" to have the RCMP delay her arrest so border officials could question Meng under the pretence of a routine immigration exam, and that both RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency officials kept intentionally poor notes.

Scott Kirkland, a border services officer, is the second witness testifying in the evidentiary hearing and he says he wrote down Meng's phone numbers and passcodes because she was uncomfortable with her own handwriting.

He says Meng asked why he needed them and he told her it was for the purposes of the customs and immigration examination at Vancouver's airport.

He says he asked for the passwords to her other devices but she declined.

"I did not say she had no choice," Kirkland said under cross-examination by defence lawyer Mona Duckett.

"I explained why we were asking for them."

Kirkland says the phones remained in an anti-static bag in his pocket and were never examined by border officials while Meng was in the secondary screening room.

Seven minutes after the phone numbers and passcodes were recorded, Meng was escorted into another room where RCMP officers arrested her and informed her of her charter rights to silence and counsel.

Kirkland was not leading the immigration screening and says that while he was asked to collect her phone numbers, he can't recall if he was asked to collect her passcodes or made the decision himself.

He has said it's typical to search phones and devices during a customs and immigrations examinations when there is a suspicion of inadmissibility to Canada, and he assumed the border agency would search Meng's devices.

Meng is wanted in the United States on fraud charges over allegations she lied to HSBC about Huawei's relationship with a company doing business in Iran, putting the bank at risk of violating American sanctions against that country.

Meng and Huawei deny the allegations.

Next year, her defence team will try to prove she was subject to an abuse of process in three different areas. They allege that her questioning and arrest at the airport was unlawful, that she has been used as a "bargaining chip" by U.S. President Donald Trump in relations with China, and that the United States misled Canadian officials in its summary of allegations against her.

MORE National ARTICLES

Feds outline rules for methane emission funds

Feds outline rules for methane emission funds
Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan unveiled rules for the $750-million emissions-reduction fund first announced by the federal government at the end of April.

Feds outline rules for methane emission funds

Ehren Cory is new Canada Infrastructure Bank CEO

Ehren Cory is new Canada Infrastructure Bank CEO
Cory previously served as Infrastructure Ontario's president and chief executive and prior to that, was a partner at McKinsey and Company.

Ehren Cory is new Canada Infrastructure Bank CEO

Info sharing discussed before Meng arrest: officer

Info sharing discussed before Meng arrest: officer
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Mona Duckett, Kirkland agreed that section 107 of the Customs Act was brought up in the meeting in the context of how the RCMP could legally obtain information from a customs and immigration exam.

Info sharing discussed before Meng arrest: officer

Lawsuit settled over ginger ale marketing

Lawsuit settled over ginger ale marketing
Under the settlement agreement, the company is not required to change its labelling or advertising for products marketed in Canada.

Lawsuit settled over ginger ale marketing

B.C. detectives identify victim in cold case

B.C. detectives identify victim in cold case
Sgt. Frank Jang of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says they've identified the victim as 38-year-old Davis Wolfgang Hawke of the United States.

B.C. detectives identify victim in cold case

Canada's cruise ship ban extended until February

Canada's cruise ship ban extended until February
Cruise ships were early hot spots for COVID-19 with hundreds of passengers falling ill and ships being stranded at sea as multiple countries began refusing them in ports.

Canada's cruise ship ban extended until February