By Moira Warburton
(Reuters) – A Canadian court blocked Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou’s request for the release of more documents related to her arrest in 2018, court documents released on Tuesday said.
Meng, 48, was arrested in December 2018 at Vancouver International Airport on a warrant from the United States, charging her with bank fraud for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.
She and her lawyers argued for the release of more documents from the Canadian government, as part of a claim that Canadian and American officials committed abuses of process during her arrest.
Although Canada released some documents requested by Meng and her team, lawyers for the Canadian attorney general declined to release all of the documents, claiming that some would threaten national security if disclosed.
A federal judge agreed with the Canadian government’s lawyers, deeming the information requested not relevant to Meng’s arrest.
“The information does not provide the ‘missing pieces of the puzzle’ that Ms. Meng seeks,” Judge Catherine Kane wrote in her ruling issued on Aug. 21.
Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meng is scheduled to appear in court in September for hearings relating to the claims of abuses of process.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Vancouver; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)
