Huawei: Meng Wanzhou faces Iran fraud charges, Canadian court hears
The chief financial officer of the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei faces fraud charges in the United States, a Canadian court hearing has revealed.
Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei’s founder, is accused of breaking American sanctions on Iran. She was arrested in Vancouver on Saturday and faces extradition to the US. China has demanded Ms Meng’s release, insisting she has not violated any laws.
The court is deciding whether or not to allow bail. Friday’s five-hour hearing has now ended and the case was adjourned until Monday. Ms Meng’s detention became public knowledge on Wednesday, but details at the time were unclear as she had requested a publication ban. That blackout has now been overturned by the court.
What happened in court?
On Friday, the Supreme Court of British Columbia was told that Ms Meng had used a Huawei subsidiary called Skycom to evade sanctions on Iran between 2009 and 2014.
The court was told that she had publicly misrepresented Skycom as being a separate company.
Ms Meng faces up to 30 years in prison in the US if found guilty of the charges, the court heard.
Court reporters said she was not handcuffed for the hearing and was wearing a green sweatsuit.
A Canadian government lawyer said Ms Meng was accused of “conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions”.
He said she had denied to US bankers any direct connections between Huawei and SkyCom, when in fact “SkyCom is Huawei”. The lawyer said Ms Meng could be a flight risk and thus should be denied bail.