The Global Chief Financial Officer of Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment maker Huawei Wanzhou Meng has been arrested in Canada. According to the latest information on the internet, Canada made the arrest on a request from the United States of America. Meng is currently facing extradition to the United States on suspicions that Huawei violated the trade sanctions that the country has against Iran. For some context, Meng is the daughter of Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, which somewhat escalates the situation in this case. As the next step in the arrest, the bail hearing has been set for Friday.
The arrest was initially reported by The Globe and Mail which was later reported by other publications. There are no additional details available at the time of writing because of “a publication ban”. Digging deeper into the cause of the arrest, the report noted that prosecutors from New York are currently investigating if Huawei violated sanctions and she has been charged for “unspecified charges in the Eastern District of New York”. According to the information, the arrest was made when Meng was transferring flights in Canada.
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As noted in the report, Huawei issued a statement in response to the arrest adding, “The company has been provided with very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng.” Huawei went on to add that the company “complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws.”
China expressed outrage to protest the arrest while asking Canada for her immediate release. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa issued a response stated, “We will closely follow the development of the issue and take all measures to resolutely protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens.” The report noted that this could hurt the relationship between China and Canada and it could also hurt the attempts of Huawei to get business in western countries.
We have added the complete statement that Huawei issued in response to this development. The company added in a dedicated Facebook post, “Recently, our corporate CFO, Ms. Meng Wanzhou, was provisionally detained by the Canadian Authorities on behalf of the United States of America, which seeks the extradition of Ms. Meng Wanzhou to face unspecified charges in the Eastern District of New York, when she was transferring flights in Canada. The company has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng.”
The company went on to add, “The company believes the Canadian and US legal systems will ultimately reach a just conclusion. Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, US and EU.”
