The United States government has officially sent Canada an extradition request for Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei CFO at the centre of an indictment that alleges a conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran by doing business through a hidden subsidiary.
Canada’s Department of Justice confirmed on Monday night that officials had received a formal request for Meng’s extradition from the U.S.
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Meng, who was arrested at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on Dec. 1 and has since lived under strict conditions that restrict her to one of two homes owned by her family in the West Coast city, is mentioned numerous times in a 13-count indictment that was announced by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday.
The indictment alleged that Meng played a leading role in using Skycom, a Huawei subsidiary, to carry out business in Iran despite U.S. sanctions, and asserting that the company was a “local business partner” in the Islamic republic.
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Alongside Huawei and Skycom, she’s facing charges including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
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Canada and the U.S. face several more steps before Meng can be extradited.
With the request made official, lawyers with Canada’s Department of Justice must determine, within 30 days, whether an “Authority to Proceed” will be issued.
Once that’s issued, then an extradition hearing takes place to look at whether the person who’s been arrested should be extradited.
At that hearing, a judge will determine whether the evidence supporting the allegations that have led to the extradition request would have been “sufficient to commit the person for trial in Canada if the conduct had occurred in this country.”
Should the judge be satisfied, then the person will be committed for extradition, pending a decision by Canada’s justice minister.
The person is released if the judge isn’t satisfied.
- With files from Mike Le Couteur and Reuters