Huawei exec faces charges of fraud in U.S. over Iran dealings

U.S. officials are seeking the extradition of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou over fraud offences related to allegations the company breached US sanctions on Iran, the attorney representing the government of Canada told a bail hearing in Vancouver on Friday.

Meng, 46, who is also deputy chair of Huawei’s board and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities while she was transiting from Hong Kong en route to Mexico.

Meng faces charges of conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions with a sentence of up to 30 years for each charge, if convicted, the court heard.

Details about Meng’s alleged crimes were previously sealed under a publication ban, which was lifted in British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver on Friday morning.

John Gibb-Carsley, who represents Canada’s attorney general, told the court the allegations of fraud are related to an investigation into SkyCom, a Hong Kong-based firm that allegedly entered into business dealings with Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator between 2009 and 2014 despite an EU and US embargo.

Gibb-Carsley said SkyCom was in fact a subsidiary of Huawei, not a separate company as claimed by the Chinese telecom giant, and that Huawei attempted to hide its true relationship with SkyCom and the company’s ties with the Iranian telecom provider.

Meng had allegedly denied the link between Huawei and SkyCom when questioned by U.S. banks in 2013, tricking them into making transactions that violated US sanctions on Iran, Gibb-Carsley said.

“This is the alleged fraud,” he said.

Extensive hearing

Gibb-Carsley urged the court to deny Meng bail, saying she has vast resources at her disposal and would likely flee to China, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

He said Huawei executives including Meng stopped travelling to the U.S. since 2017, when Huawei subsidiary was served with a grand jury subpoena.

Gibb-Carsley said Meng has a son going to school in Boston but she hasn’t visited him there since 2017.

Gibb-Carsley said Meng owns two expensive homes in Vancouver but only spends a couple of weeks there every year. That shows that she has no meaningful connections to the community or Canada, he said.

Meng’s defence attorney, David Martin, said wealth should not preclude any one from getting bail.

Martin said that given her prominent status Meng would not embarrass her father, the company or China by breaching any bail conditions.

In addition, Meng’s family including her husband, daughter are in Vancouver, Martin said.

“Ms. Meng will remain here,” he said.

Martin also argued that the entire U.S. case against his client rested on a PowerPoint presentation she is alleged to have shown to a Hong Kong bank in 2013.

Straining ties with China

Weng’s arrest has strained China’s relations with Canada and the U.S. at a delicate time for both North American neighbours.

Weng’s arrest, which occurred on the same day that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires to discuss their trade war, is likely to further escalate tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Xi and Trump had agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade war that erupted in July.

The incident also comes as Canada tries to develop closer trade ties with China to lessen its dependence on the U.S.

• China demands Canada release top Huawei executive

When asked whether the arrest could hurt Canadian-Chinese relations, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Ottawa and Beijing have “a strong economic relationship and an economic relationship which is growing.”

“When it comes to the specific case, I really want to emphasize that Canada is a rule of law country,” Freeland said in a teleconference call from Berlin.  “We have an independent judiciary and the appropriate authorities in Canada took decisions in this case without any political involvement.”