Boeing 777 was chartered to fly Meng Wanzhou home, Canada court hears as she seeks to have bail relaxed
- Huawei executive Meng hopes to shed the security guards who surround her under US$7.8 million bail conditions
- The court was told of Meng’s Vancouver life, including high-end private shopping, a masseuse, art teacher and Christmas dinner that booked out entire restaurant
A Boeing 777 was chartered by China’s government to fly Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou back home last May, in the mistaken expectation that she was about to be freed, a Canadian court heard on Tuesday, in a dramatic hearing that featured testimony from Meng’s husband for the first time.
Liu Xiaozong said he feared his wife might contract Covid-19 from the security guards assigned to prevent her fleeing while her extradition battle continues. As Meng’s lawyers sought to relax her bail conditions by releasing her from their custody whenever she leaves her Vancouver mansion, Liu also said that their two children feared being identified by the public because of the guards’ presence.
But a Canadian government lawyer tried to undermine Liu’s professed concerns about the virus by highlighting aspects of Meng’s lifestyle in Vancouver on bail that have previously gone unreported.
Under cross-examination, Liu described a Christmas dinner in which Meng’s party of 14 people booked out an entire restaurant in apparent defiance of local pandemic rules, as well as shopping trips and gatherings at a home rented by Huawei employees.
The president of the security firm guarding Meng later described visits from a masseuse and an art teacher, and elaborated on Meng’s “numerous” private shopping trips to high-end Vancouver boutiques.
