Tagged Tech Princess’s fraud case worsens China woes for Boris
As PM comes under pressure over Huawei’s role in Britain...
BORIS JOHNSON faces mounting pressure to distance the UK from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei as an alleged fraud by a top executive – China’s ‘Tech Princess’ – is laid bare in court tomorrow.
Meng Wanzhou, 47, is the daughter of the billionaire founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, 75, and is also its chief financial officer. That makes her one of China’s most powerful female bosses and heiress to Huawei’s billions.
But she has been humbled by allegations against her and has been under house arrest in Canada for more than a year. She has been forced to wear an electronic tag on her ankle and her passport has been seized to ensure she does not attempt to flee the country.
Tomorrow, after months of legal battles, Meng is finally set to attend an extradition hearing in a Vancouver court.
Matthew Henderson of the Asia Study Centre at the Henry Jackson Society, which is opposed to Huawei being allowed into the UK’s 5G infrastructure, told the Mail on Sunday last night: ‘There are many reasons why it would be a very grave mistake for the British Government to encourage further Huawei engagement with Britain’s digital infrastructure. But in any case it would be extraordinary for the British Government to do so when one of the company’s most senior, best-connected and influential officials is about to face criminal charges related to fraud.’
Meng, a mother-of-four, has regularly been seen in public dressed immaculately and with her tracking device on full display. She has set up residence in the larger of her two homes in Canada, which she acquired when she previously lived in the country and which are worth a total of around £13million.
If her crack team of lawyers succeed she will be free to return to her home in Shenzhen, southern China. If she loses her case, which is complex and likely to stretch out over many months, Meng will be sent to the United States to go on trial.
The extradition hearing will not seek to determine whether or not Meng is guilty of fraud.
But its timing, and the fact that it will give an airing to the allegations, is awkward for Prime Minister Johnson, who is preparing to allow Huawei to play a part in building Britain’s new high-speed internet structure, 5G.
The US has warned the British government it ‘would be madness’ to use Huawei technology and is understood to have handed over a dossier outlining why the firm poses a national security risk.
Tory MP Bob Seely has said Huawei ‘to all intents and purposes is part of the Chinese state’ and would potentially give its government access to UK networks. Huawei denies this and any links to the state.
The renewed focus on Huawei’s business practices will increase pressure on Johnson to fall in line with President Donald Trump’s blanket ban on Huawei, the world’s largest telecoms organisation.
IT is understood the British Government is preparing to hand Huawei, which has already helped build UK broadband infrastructure, a ‘limited’ role in developing 5G networks. Johnson said last week: ‘If people oppose one brand or another then they have to tell us what’s the alternative.’
Meng, who also goes by the names Sabrina Meng and Cathy Meng, was shocked when Royal Canadian Mounted Police dramatically arrested her in December 2018. Despite being a former resident of Vancouver – a picturesque city in the western Canadian province of British Columbia that is now best known as the holiday destination of choice for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – she was only changing flights at the city’s airport on a trip from Hong Kong to Mexico City.
Last month, Meng wrote a blog on Huawei’s website in which she spoke of her ‘fear, pain, disappointment, helplessness, torment and struggle’ since being detained.
The US initially issued a warrant for Meng’s arrest in August 2018. On November 30 that year, one day before Meng was due to change flights in Vancouver, the US issued Canada with a Provisional Arrest Warrant, obliging its neighbour to detain Meng on its behalf.
In the US, Meng is accused of fraud by misleading Washington and Huawei’s banks, including HSBC, about the firm’s business connections with
Iran, in violation of US trade sanctions.
It is alleged that the Chinese giant effectively operated an Iranian telecoms company called Skycom but that Meng, and others, misled lenders about the nature of the relationship so that they would continue to offer financial support.
Ahead of tomorrow’s hearing at British Columbia’s Supreme Court, the Attorney General of Canada filed a written statement saying Meng’s alleged conduct would amount to fraud against HSBC. It is claimed Meng misled an HSBC executive by giving a PowerPoint presentation saying Huawei no longer had a controlling interest in
Skycom. Meng denies wrongdoing. Her lawyers allege the US action is politically motivated and claim Canadian authorities mishandled her arrest and tried to unlawfully gather information against her.
The court hearing could be the first of several stretching into 2020. British Columbia’s Supreme Court will consider ‘double criminality’ this week, focusing on whether allegations made against Meng in the US would also be crimes in Canada. Under extradition laws, this is the first hurdle that lawyers for Canada’s Attorney General will have to overcome. Meng’s lawyers say that because the case relates to US sanctions her alleged actions should not be considered criminal in Canada.
The length of the extradition battle will likely confine Meng to British Columbia for an extended time.
After a 10-day stint in a women’s correctional centre following her arrest in December 2018, Meng was permitted to relocate to one of her Vancouver homes, a six-bedroom house, in exchange for Can$ 10 million (£6million) bail money.
Later, her lawyers persuaded the court to allow her to move into her larger abode – a seven-bedroom mansion, currently valued at around Can$ 19 million (£11 million) – which had previously been undergoing renovation work.
Meng cannot leave her home between 11pm and 6am without permission. She is also restricted from leaving the area and is under 24-7 surveillance.
Huawei declined to comment.