CBSA Vancouver airport chief says director told her not to make notes about Meng Wanzhou

The Canada Border Services Agency's chief of passenger operations for Vancouver airport claims she was told not to create any records aboutMeng Wanzhou in the weeks after the Huawei executive's arrest.

Nicole Goodman testified in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday thatCBSA'sthen-director general for the Pacific Region, Roslyn MacVicar, warned her about record keeping at a meeting together with Goodman's direct supervisor.

Goodman said she had been planning to create a summary of events and "lessons learned" pertaining to the customs agency's role in the high-profile arrest on Dec. 1, 2018.

But she claimed MacVicar said any timeline she created wouldn't be reliable as evidence in court and could be vulnerable to the government's access to information process.

"The context was we shouldn't be creating additional records unnecessary, not additional," Goodman said.

"It's not to conceal or suppress or to hide anything. There's nothing to hide. I'm fully transparent. There's nothing nefarious here. It's just additional information that's maybe not necessary."

'Not one single note anywhere'

Goodman is one of at least 10 CBSA and RCMP officers involved in the events surrounding Meng's arrest expected to take the stand.

They're testifying at a hearing to gather evidence related to defence claims the two agencies conspired to violate Meng's rights at the behest of U.S. authorities by having the CBSA question her without a lawyer for three hours before her arrest.

Meng, who is Huawei's chief financial officer, is charged with fraud and conspiracy in New York in relation to allegations she lied to an HSBC executive about her company's control of a subsidiary accused of violating U.S. economic sanctions against Iran.

Prosecutors claim the bank risked loss and prosecution by relying on Meng's assurances in deciding to continue handling financial transactions for the telecommunications giant.

In cross-examinations with previous witnesses, Meng's lawyers have grilled CBSA officers about the paucity of notes concerning their deliberations leading up to a decision to subject Meng to an immigration admissibility exam before she was handed over to RCMP.

Defence lawyer Mona Duckett noted that Goodman herself doesn't have any records of the interactions she had with RCMP, a legal attache for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and her own officers either before or after Meng's arrest.

"You have not one single note anywhere of your involvement in Ms. Meng's matter," Duckett told Goodman.

"Those would be my emails," Goodman replied.

'I just got the information I need from CBSA'

Meng's lawyers have suggested the FBI used the RCMP and the CBSA to conduct a covert investigation into Meng.

The CBSA witnesses, including Goodman, have all insisted that they had legitimate reasons to question the 48-year-old, citing the pending charges in the U.S. and national security concerns allegedly revealed through open source checks into Huawei in the hours before her arrival.

Goodman was not at the airport on the morning Meng arrived on a flight from Hong Kong. But the CBSA chief was in contact with an FBI attache the day before and was part of email chains about the case in the following days.

The subject of Goodman's memory and lack of notes came up repeatedly during Wednesday's testimony, with the CBSA officer at one point telling Duckett that, "after the fact, this may seem hard to believe, but in the moment when I'm dealing with my team, I'm not taking notes."

At the time Meng was intercepted, CBSA officers took her electronic devices, placing them in special bags provided by the FBI to prevent them being remotely wiped.

Goodman testified that FBI legal attache John Sgroi called her repeatedly to ask for the results of the customs examination and her travel records.

But she said she insisted the information could only be shared through proper channels.

In court Wednesday afternoon, Duckett presented Goodman with an email chain to which she was not a party the day after Meng's arrest.

In the correspondence which concerned names and addressesSgroi told a senior RCMP officer that "I just got the information I need from CBSA."

"What information do you have about who is in contact with John Sgroi on Dec.2providing him some names?" Duckett asked.

"I have no idea," Goodman responded. "It was not me."

Grim anniversary for 'Two Michaels'

Meng's lawyers plan to argue next year that the alleged violations of her rights should result in a stay of proceedings. They also claim Meng is being used as a bargaining chip in a U.S. trade war with China and that the U.S. misled Canada about the strength of the case.

Events outside the courtroom in the past week have raised questions about the future of the extradition.

The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported that Meng is in negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice over a deferred prosecution agreement that would allow her to return to China.

Thursday marks two years in detention fortwo Canadians in China: former diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor. Most observers believe they are being heldinretaliation for Meng's arrest

The 'Two Michaels'have been charged with spying.

Canada's Minister of Foreign AffairsFrancois-Philippe Champagneissued a statement about their situation on the eve of the anniversary.

"I am struck by the integrity and strength of character the two have shown as they endure immense hardship that would shake anyone's faith in humanity," Champagne said.

"These two Canadians are an absolute priority for our government, and we will continue to work tirelessly to secure their immediate release and to stand up for them as a government and as Canadians."

Meng has denied the charges against her.