The U.S. Department of Justice accuses Su Bin of masterminding a plot to swipe confidential information from several U.S. defence contractors to sell the secrets to the Chinese government.Edgar Su/Reuters
The RCMP is so lacking in translation resources that the United States is offering to send in help, a lawyer for the man at the centre of an alleged spying scandal told a B.C. Supreme Court.
Greg DelBigio said Wednesday the Mounties' shortcomings should prompt an indefinite postponement of his client's extradition to the United States.
The U.S. Department of Justice accuses Su Bin of masterminding a plot to swipe confidential information from several U.S. defence contractors, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to sell the secrets to the Chinese government.
Mr. DelBigio told the hearing that a shortage of RCMP resources is causing delays in translating information written in a foreign language from computers and other electronics confiscated from accused hacker Mr. Su following his arrest in June, 2014.
"If the RCMP resources had been different from what they are – meaning if they had more people who had the both technical and linguistic skills – I would now have in my possession the data which had been seized," Mr. DelBigio said.
Mr. Su appeared in court on Wednesday dressed in a crimson-red, prison-issued outfit. He smiled and waved to the public gallery before taking a seat in the prisoner's dock, his interpreter alongside him.
The court heard that the U.S. is applying to send a team of investigators to Canada to help with extracting and translating data from the seized equipment. That information consists primarily of e-mail correspondence between Mr. Su and two members of the Chinese military accused of being his co-conspirators.
Crown lawyer Deborah Strachan "strenuously" opposed the proposal for adjournment, arguing that the documents sought by the defence applied to the criminal trial but were irrelevant to the extradition hearing before the Canadian court.
"Mr. Su knows what has been seized," Ms. Strachan added. "The devices and the hard documents that were seized belonged to him, or at least were seized from his home. He is able in my respectful submission to tell his counsel."