'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has reserved her decision in the extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, saying only she'll set a date for her ruling later.
The end of the extradition hearing is the culmination of nearly three years of legal arguments, as her lawyers tried to prevent Meng's removal to the United States to face fraud charges that both she and Huawei deny.
Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said the next hearing will be on Oct. 21, when she will likely indicate a date for her decision on both the extradition to the United States and the abuse of process arguments made by Meng's lawyers.
Even if the judge commits Meng for surrender, the final decision on extradition lies with Canada's justice minister.
Earlier Wednesday, a lawyer for Canada's attorney general said Meng's legal team is giving an "alternative narrative" in the extradition case against her, while ignoring important features.
Robert Frater told the court that Meng's presentation to international bank HSBC about Huawei's connection to a company doing business in Iran was partially true.
"There was some truth but we say not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," he said. "And there was certainly not sufficient disclosure."
Meng's defence team has argued there was no risk to HSBC and the bank was entirely responsible for its own decision to clear a financial transaction through the United States, putting it at risk of violating American sanctions.
Frater said that "HSBC is, after all, a bank, which is bound to be concerned about financial transactions" and they needed information on whether a dealing would be legal or illegal.
Meng is accused of lying to HSBC about Huawei's control of subsidiary Skycom during a 2013 PowerPoint presentation, putting the bank at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.
You should have no difficulty "finding dishonesty sufficient" enough to make a cause of fraud, Frater told Holmes.
Frater told the court as he opened the extradition case last week that Meng was not completely truthful and not forthcoming by leaving a lot unsaid during the 2013 meeting in a Hong Kong tea room with a senior HSBC banker. She failed to tell HSBC that Skycom was controlled by Huawei, which was the subject of HSBC's concern, he added.
"And you should also be aware, if you are not already, that Huawei wholly owns Skycom," he told the court.
This put the bank at risk of reputational damage, financial losses and violating sanctions because it was given incomplete information, he had told the court earlier.
Frater wrapped up his arguments rebutting Meng's lawyers' claims that the United States has given "manifestly unreliable" evidence and cherry-picked information to bolster their case against the executive.
The court heard that the job of the extradition judge is to assess if the requesting country has presented enough evidence to support a possible guilty verdict. It is not to determine if Meng is guilty or innocent, it heard.
Before the extradition hearing, Meng's lawyers made four abuse of process claims, including that the Huawei executive was unlawfully detained when she was arrested at the airport, that there was political interference by then-U.S. president Donald Trump and that the American government summarized evidence and omitted other information in an effort to establish a case of fraud.
A statement from Huawei said the company is confident that Meng is innocent and trusts the Canadian judicial system.
"Accordingly, Huawei has been supporting Ms. Meng's pursuit of justice and freedom," it said. "We continue to do so today."
Meng's arrest placed Canada in the middle of a bitter dispute between China and the United States, and the arrests of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are widely seen as retaliation for Meng's detention.
Last Wednesday, Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in prison on national security charges by a Chinese court. The government released few details other than to accuse Spavor of passing along sensitive information to Kovrig. Both have been held in isolation and have had little contact with Canadian diplomats.
At the same time that Meng's lawyers were making abuse of process arguments, a Chinese court handed out the death penalty to Canadian Robert Schellenberg after rejecting his appeal. He was originally given a 15-year sentence, but was handed the death penalty a month after Meng's arrest.
The federal government called Schellenberg's ruling arbitrary, and the penalty "cruel and inhumane."
Meng has been under house arrest in a multimillion-dollar home in Vancouver.
The Huawei executive's lawyers got in a short rebuttal before the hearing ended on Wednesday.
Mark Sandler told the court that the attorney general had not proved the exact link between Meng's PowerPoint presentation and the subsequent decision by HSBC to clear the transaction, which resulted in a violation of an American sanction.
The fact that Meng's lawyers were allowed the one final argument didn't escape Frater's notice.
"No one has received a fairer extradition hearing in this country than Ms. Meng even to the point of getting the last word."
-- With files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2021.
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
Police have released video footage of a dramatic takedown of a group of teens wanted in connection with an attempted carjacking in Markham earlier this month.
Canada called for 'all parties' to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.