According to a source familiar with the situation, Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou left Canada on a flight to China on Friday afternoon, nearly three years after she was detained at a Vancouver airport.
According to Reuters and the CBC, Meng will appear in a Brooklyn federal courtroom today via live video and enter a plea to US accusations against her. The Chinese executive was detained in Canada in December 2018 on accusations of breaching US sanctions, and she has been there under house arrest ever since, defying US extradition requests. Hearings in her extradition case concluded in August, with a decision expected on October 21st.
Meng was charged with fraud, saying the telecommunication the Chinese company and telecommunication business misinterpreted its tie with Iranian subsidiary, as well as stealing intellectual property from T-Mobile.
Meanwhile, Meng, Huawei and two of its subsidiaries i.e. Huawei USA and Skycom were named in the 13 count accusations.
The prosecution claims that as part of the bargain in making this admission, “Meng has agreed to the correctness of a four-page statement of facts that describes the intentionally fraudulent representations she made to Financial Institution 1.”
They are dropping their request for extradition from Canada, and the accusations against her will be dismissed as long as she does not commit any additional crimes.
“Our prosecution team continues to prepare for trial against Huawei, and we look forward to proving our case against the company in court.”
General Kenneth Polite – Assistant Attorney
According to the Wall Street Journal, Justice Department officials under the Biden administration reopened discussions that had stalled under President Trump. According to its sources, Huawei is not a party to the agreement and would continue to defend its allegations of fraud and trade secret theft.
The US Attorney’s Office and Huawei have both declined to comment publicly on the subject. According to a former Canadian ambassador, her release will result in China deporting two Canadians who were detained and charged with espionage following Meng’s detention.
Source: The Verge
Meng, 49, agreed to plead guilty to lying to HSBC Holdings Plc about the telecom company’s dealings with Iran, in violation of US sanctions against that country, as part of a plea bargain with federal prosecutors.
Meng will face no further prosecution, and the accusations against her might be dropped by December 2022 if she follows the conditions of the deal.
China vs America, we are seeing this for a very long time, and we wonder when this will come to an end!
