Canadian police officer declines to give evidence at Meng Wanzhou extradition hearing

Retired Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) Officer Ben Chang has informed legal teams for the defence and the Canadian government that he will not appear in court to give evidence in Ms Meng’s ongoing extradition proceedings. Lawyers for Ms Meng want to question Mr Chang, the former head of the RCMP’s financial integrity unit at the time of Ms Meng’s arrest at Vancouver Airport in December 2018 , about alleged violations of Ms Meng’s rights under the Canadian Charter and called his refusal to appear “concerning.”

This week and next will see lawyers for both Ms Meng and the Canadian government cross-examine Canadian law enforcement and border officials. Mr Chang’s evidence was expected to be of particular relevance to the questions surrounding the collection, and alleged sharing with US FBI agents, of electronic serial numbers and other technical information relating to Ms Meng’s electronic devices at the time of her arrest. Mr Chang, in an affidavit, denied sharing this information with the FBI but this assertion is contradicted by notes made by another officer, and Ms Meng’s legal team are seeking to cross-examine him in relation to this and other “material inconsistencies” between his and other officers’ affidavits.