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Huawei executive faces fraud charges in US

Published

5 years ago

December 8, 2018

Chinese telecom giant Huawei ’ s chief financial officer , arrested in Canada , faces US fraud charges for allegedly lying to banks about the use of a covert subsidiary to sell to Iran in breach of sanctions , a bail hearing heard Friday.
Meng Wanzhou is accused of “ conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions” and if convicted faces more than 30 years in prison , a Canadian government lawyer said , in asking the court to deny her bail request .

The lawyer said that Meng had personally denied to American bankers any direct connections between Huawei and SkyCom , when in fact “ SkyCom is Huawei . ” SkyCom ’ s alleged sanctions breaches occurred from 2009 to 2014 .

He suggested that Meng has shown a pattern of avoiding the United States since becoming aware of the investigation into the matter, has no ties to Canada and has access to vast wealth and connections — and thus poses a flight risk .

Meng was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 while transferring planes on a trip from Hong Kong to Mexico , at the request of US authorities seeking her extradition .

( AFP )