THE ADVOCATE V O L . 7 9 P A R T 6 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 1 811
• Meng’s third application to adduce evidence in the extradition
hearing (this time the affidavit of an accountant with Huawei) was
unsuccessful (2021 BCSC 514);
• Meng successfully applied for an adjournment of portions of the
extradition proceedings, to allow her counsel time to receive and
review a substantial amount of documentation that HSBC (the
alleged victim of the fraud with which Meng was charged in the
United States) had recently agreed to provide (2021 BCSC 935);
• Meng was unsuccessful in her application for an order banning the
publication of the content of documents she received from HSBC
and filed with the court; the terms on which she had received the
documents required her to apply (2021 BCSC 1253); and
• Meng’s fourth application to adduce evidence (the recently
received HSBC documents) in the extradition hearing was not successful
(2021 BCSC 1412).
The extradition hearing before Holmes A.C.J. concluded in mid-August
2021, with the judge reserving judgment.
As is now also well known, Meng was allowed to leave Canada on September
24, 2021, before a court judgment stemming from the merits of that hearing
could be released. This was less than fully satisfactory to those who had
looked forward to a court decision that might both, (1) in coming from our
court rather than a political source, reaffirm the centrality of the rule of law,
but (2) in the substance of its reasoning and result, rebuke the United States
in some way, result in the release of Meng to China, and thereby still set the
stage for the release of the “two Michaels”. Of course, there was no guarantee
that this (rather than a decision allowing extradition) is the decision that
Holmes A.C.J. ultimately would have reached, though much had been read
into the judge’s question to counsel for the Attorney General of Canada during
the August 2021 hearing: “Isn’t it unusual that one would see a fraud case
with no actual harm many years later and one in which the alleged victim
— a large institution — appears to have numerous people within the institution
who had all the facts that are now said to be misrepresented?”6
However, while the process did not end with the flourish of a Canadian
court decision on the substance of an outstanding extradition request, the
process nevertheless worked its way through the courts of both the United
States and Canada, in accordance with the Extradition Treaty.
In this regard, Meng entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and
formally pled not guilty in a virtual appearance before a U.S. court on September
24, 2021. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly accepted the terms of