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10/12/2018

Huawei CFO Accused Of Cover Up Of Iran Sanctions Violation By The US




Huawei CFO Accused Of Cover Up Of Iran Sanctions Violation By The US
According to a Canadian prosecutor quoted in news reports, the arrested chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd was behind creating a cover up of the links of the Chinese tech giant with a company that had attempted to sell its equipment top Iran amidst the US embargo. This was said by the prosecutor while opposing the bail of the Huawei executive as she is now expected to be extradited to the US.
 
The allegations has its origin to a 2013 report published by the news agency Reuters in which the company was alleged to have developed close links with Hong Kong-based Skycom Tech Co Ltd. according to the report, the later had tried to sell tech equipment to Iran even while the US imposed sanctions against Tehran was in force. According to what the prosecutor told a Vancouver court, this formed the backdrop of the case and allegations against Meng Wanzhou – Huawei’s CFO and the daughter of the founder of Huawe. .
 
The court was told that the US allegations against Meng include of her not being truthful in her dealings with banks that had asked her to furnish information about the company’s links with the alleged Hong Kong company. The Canadian court was also informed that Meng would face charges of conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions if she is extradited to the United States. Those charges would draw a maximum sentence of 30 years for each charge.
 
Meng, 46, was arrested in Canada on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States. The arrest data coincided with the agreement of truce to the trade war between the United States and China in a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a meeting held between the two leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit that was held in Argentina.
 
The Chinese government has come out to criticise the arrest and the markets have been impacted by the news of the arrest. However, the Trump administration and Trump himself had attempted to downplay the significance of the arrest and the stressed on the importance of he possible negotiations on trade following the agreement between the two leaders.
 
Meng’s bail plea was severely opposed by the prosecutor and argued that she was a high flight risk and had few ties to Vancouver and the wealth that her family has would also not be weighed down by even a multi-million-dollar surety to ensure that the bail conditions are not breached.
 
It was highly unlikely that Meng would breach bail conditions because of the prominence of the individual, argued her lawyers.
 
"You can trust her," he said. Fleeing "would humiliate and embarrass her father, whom she loves," he argued.
 
A formal extradition request for Meng has to be made by the United States within the next 60 days which would be considered by a Canadian judge and judge whether there are is enough strength in the case against Meng. Finally, the extradition has ot be decided by Canada's justice minister.
 
The company has "every confidence that the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will reach the right conclusion," said a spokesman for Huawei. On earlier occasions, Huawei has said that all sanctions laws and applicable export control are adhered to by it.

(Source:www.channelnewsasia.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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