Meng, arrested at Vancouvers airport more than two years ago, was accused of defrauding HSBC by lying to the bank about its business in Iran, thus putting it at risk of breaching US sanctions but her alleged conduct involved a 2013 meeting in a Hong Kong teahouse. Meng is a Chinese citizen, and HSBC is a British bank, as said by her lawyer Gib van Ert.
Referring to allegations that Meng lied to HSBC bank during a 2013 presentation about a Huawei subsidiarys activities in Iran, her lawyers stated that the United States has no right under international law to prosecute Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou for fraud because her alleged conduct has nothing to do with the US.
United States laws do not apply in China, said van Ert, adding further, If any laws were broken that day, that is a matter for China. Canada had a duty to protect Meng from the US attempt to violate international law".
In a written argument Mengs lawyers also said: The Requesting States prosecution of the Applicant violates CIL [customary international law] because CIL does not allow a state to criminalise the conduct of a non-national, outside that state, for representations made to another non-national, where there is no substantial and genuine connection to that state.
