US drops charges against Huawei’s Meng
The United States Department of Justice has dropped all charges against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who was held by Canada for nearly three years on a US warrant for charges related to Iran sanctions, which strained relations not only between the US and China, but also Canada and China.
US District Judge Ann Donnelly on Friday dismissed Meng’s indictment with prejudice, which means it cannot be brought again in court.
Meng, the daughter of the Chinese telecoms company’s founder Ren Zhengfei, was Huawei’s CFO when she was arrested in Vancouver in December 2018. She had been accused of bank fraud and other crimes for misleading the bank HSBC Holdings about the company’s business in Iran to obtain banking services in violation of US sanctions.
The US formally asked Canada to extradite Meng in 2019, but she remained there under house arrest until Donnelly approved her deferred prosecution agreement with the US.
The Justice Department said on Friday that Meng had completed the period of the agreement without violating it and so the charges were fully dropped.
Meng was freed last year after reaching the agreement for charges against her to be dismissed on Dec 1, 2022, four years from the date of her arrest in British Columbia on a US warrant.
Meng flew home to Shenzhen on the day it was approved.
During the period that Meng was held under house arrest, Washington intensified a campaign against the use of Huawei equipment in the US and its allies, saying it posed deep security threats.
Huawei is still charged in the case, which is pending in the US District Court in Brooklyn, New York.
No trial date has been set and a status conference is scheduled for Feb 7. The company has pleaded not guilty.