Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou calls for China after reaching an agreement with US prosecutors to end a bank fraud case to ease tensions between China and the United States on Friday, September 24, 2021. Flew.
Within hours of news of the deal, two Canadians who were arrested shortly after Ms Meng was detained in December 2018 were released from Chinese prisons and were on their way back to Canada. Beijing had denied that his arrest was linked.
The years-long extradition drama has been a central source of discord in rapidly deteriorating relations between Beijing and Washington, with Chinese officials hinting that the case is likely to help end a diplomatic standoff between the world’s top two powers. need to leave.
The deal also opens US President Joe Biden to criticism of China’s hawkers in Washington, who argue that his administration puts China and one of its top companies at the center of the global technology rivalry between the two countries.
bank fraud charges
Ms Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on a US warrant, and indicted on bank and wire fraud charges in 2013 for allegedly misleading HSBC about the telecommunications equipment giant’s business deals in Iran. .
Earlier, Reuters reported that the United States had reached a deferred prosecution agreement with Meng. Acting US Attorney Nicole Boeckman in Brooklyn said that entering into the agreement, “Meng has taken responsibility for his leading role in executing the plan to defraud a global financial institution.”
The settlement pertains only to Meng, and the US Justice E-Department said it is preparing a trial against Huawei and is looking forward to proving its case in court.
A Huawei spokesperson declined to comment.
A person familiar with the matter said Ms Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, had departed Canada on a flight to Shenzhen.
Two Canadians, businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, were held in China for more than 1,000 days. In August, a Chinese court sentenced Spavor to 11 years in prison for espionage.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters late Friday that the two men had left Chinese airspace minutes earlier. He was not asked whether the two countries have entered into a bilateral agreement.
“I want to thank our colleagues and partners around the world in the international community who have stood firmly with Canada and these two Canadians,” he said.
In a hearing in Brooklyn federal court on Friday, which Ms Meng attended virtually from Canada, Assistant US Attorney David Kessler said the government would move to dismiss the charges against her if she complied with all of her obligations under the agreement. which ends in December 2022. He said Ms Meng would be released on a personal identification bond, and that the United States plans to withdraw its request for her extradition from Canada.
Ms Meng pleaded not guilty to the charges at the hearing. When US District Court Judge Ann Donnelly later accepted the deferred prosecution agreement, Ms. Meng sighed heavily.
A Canadian judge later signed Ms Meng’s release order, vacating her bail conditions and allowing her to be freed after nearly three years of detention.
After the judge’s order, she got emotional, hugging and thanking her lawyers.
Later speaking to our supporters and reporters, Ms Meng thanked the judge for her “fairness” and how the case “turned her life upside down”.
Ms Meng was confined to her expensive Vancouver home at night and monitored 24/7 by private security that she paid for as part of her bail agreement. Referred to as “Huawei’s Princess” by Chinese state media, she was required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet to monitor her movements, which became fodder for tabloids when hung over her designer shoes.
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