Huawei exec faces Iran-linked fraud charges
CHINESE telecom giant Huawei’s chief financial officer faces US fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking business dealings with Iran, a Canadian court heard on Friday, a week after she was detained on a US extradition request.
Meng Wanzhou, 46, was arrested in Canada’s Pacific coast city of Vancouver on December 1 while changing planes during a trip from Hong Kong to Mexico – stirring up tensions between the US and China just as the countries’ leaders agreed to a truce in their trade war.
A day-long hearing was adjourned until Monday, when the judge is expected to render a decision on bail. Until then, she will remain in custody.
Canadian government law yer John Gibb-Carsley asked for bai l to be denied, saying Meng has been accused of “conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions” and faces more than 30 years in prison if convicted.
She is specif ica lly accused of ly ing to a US bank, identified by her law yer as “Hong Kong Bank”, about the use of a covert subsidiar y to sell to Ira n in breach of sanctions.
Meng had persona l ly den ied to ba n ker s a ny d i re c t c on nec t ions between Huawei and the subsidiary, Sk yCom, when in fact “Sk yCom i s Huawei,” Gibb-Carsley said, putting the bank in jeopardy of violating sanct ions. Sk y Com’s a l leged sa nct ions breaches occurred from 2009 to 2014, while Meng’s alleged fraudulent misrepresentations were in 2013.
Meng had been a member of SkyCom’s board a decade ago, but t he company was later sold, said her lawyer David Martin.
However, US authorities claim Huawei continued to control the company, with Gibb-Carsley noting that SkyCom employees continued to carry Huawei identification and use its email.
He suggested t hat Meng has a lso shown a pattern of avoiding the US over t he past yea r since becoming aware of t he invest igat ion into t he matter, arguing that she has no ties to Canada and has access to vast wealth and political connections – and thus poses a f light risk.
Huawei said in a Friday statement that it “will continue to follow the bail hearing” next week, expressing “eve- r y confidence that the Canadian and US lega l systems will reach t he right conclusion”.
Meng’s detention in Canada came on the day of a summit at which US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to a truce in the escalating trade dispute between the two economic powerhouses.
China says Meng – the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, a former China’s People’s Liberation Army engineer – has violated no laws in Canada or the US and has demanded her release.
Wa s h i ng ton a nd Beiji ng have exchanged steep tariffs on more than $ 300 billion in tota l t wo-way trade, which has locked them in a conf lict that has begun to eat into profits.
Trump tweeted on Friday that negotiations to defuse the high-stakes dispute were “going very well”, but the messages since Meng’s arrest have been mixed and have roiled global stock markets.
Her appearance at the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver is a prelude to an extradition process that could take months.
CNN, quoting an unnamed official, said the US saw the arrest as providing leverage in US-China t rade ta l ks – although White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has denied any link to the dialogue.
Chinese state-run media said t he arrest was part of US efforts to curtail China’s tech industr y.
“The Chinese government should seriously mull over the US tendency to abuse legal procedures to suppress China’s high-tech enterprises,” said the nationalist tabloid Global Times in an editorial.
“Obviously, Washington is resorting to a despicable rogue’s approach as it cannot stop Huawei’s 5G advance in the market,” it went on.
Meng spent most of the past week at a women’s detention facility in a suburb of Vancouver.
If she is released on bail, she has agreed to surrender her passports and submit to electronic monitoring until she is discharged or surrendered for trial to the US. All security costs would be borne by her.
The extradition process could take months, even yea rs, if appea ls a re made in t he case. The court heard Meng’s husband Xiaozong Liu owns two mansions in the city.