Federal documents claim Meng lied

VANCOUVER— Documents from lawyers for Canada’s attorney general say a series of witnesses will prove Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou lied to HSBC bank about the company’s relationship’s with Skycom in Iran.

The documents released Friday are the government’s arguments to be used during a hearing next April and they say there’s enough to prove fraud in support of Meng’s extradition to the United States.

The documents say witnesses, including former employees of Huawei, FBI investigators and officials with HSBC — the bank at the centre of the allegations — will say Meng falsely said Huawei didn’t control Skycom.

Meng was arrested at Vancouver’s airport on a request from the United States over allegations both she and Huawei broke American sanctions against Iran, accusations both have denied.

The documents say witnesses will tell the court Meng reassured a senior HSBC executive that Skycom was a local partner of Huawei’s and that the Chinese company had divested any shares in the company in Iran.

Hours after that meeting, Huawei announced it had received a $1.5-billion (U.S.) loan from a group of international banks with HSBC as the principal lender.

A few days later, the unnamed witness emailed other senior HSBC personnel, “stating that ‘Everything appears to be above board,’ ‘Huawei has stated that it complies with all laws and sanctions,’ and ‘I’m pretty much reassured,’” the documents say.

The HSBC risk committee responsible for the Asia-Pacific region met in Hong Kong and considered that Huawei advised HSBC that its shares in Skycom were sold in 2009 and Meng resigned her position on the board in the same year, the documents say.

“The evidence demonstrates that Ms. Meng deliberately made dishonest representations to HSBC in an attempt to preserve Huawei’s relationship with the bank, knowing that in so doing, HSBC would be exposed to risk of economic loss.”

The evidence establishes fraud and is enough to extradite Meng to the U.S., the documents say.

Meng’s arrest has generated increasing friction between Canada and China.