Huawei CFO released on bail pending extradition decision to US

Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Chinese Huawei arrested in Canada last week, has been released on bail after approval by a Canadian court. She will be placed under fairly strict surveillance pending the decision on her extradition to the US.

According to The Star, a Canadian newspaper from Vancouver, where the court hearing also took place, she was released on condition that 10 million Canadian dollars had been paid, converted 6.6 million euros. Under the imposed conditions, she must stay in her own existing home in Vancouver and is not allowed to leave the house between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. There is also twenty-four hours a day supervision and she wears an electronic ankle bracelet, which she has to pay for herself. She also had to surrender her passports, but she is allowed to travel in Vancouver and the nearby city of Richmond.

The trial judge also addressed allegations that Meng deliberately did not travel to the United States in order to evade an ongoing investigation. The Canadian judge called this “speculative and without any grounds.” These allegations come from the US authorities; they claim that Meng is aware of the US investigation into Huawei parts and that on that basis Meng has deliberately stopped coming to the US since April 2017. Huawei has said through Scott Bradley that it has confidence in the Canadian and US legal systems and that a fair conclusion will follow in upcoming proceedings.

Meng has been incarcerated since early December, at the request of the United States. At the time of the arrest, she was on a layover in Canada on her flight from Hong Kong to Mexico. The US suspects Huawei of violating US sanctions against Iran. According to the US, Huawei has been supplying US products to Iran since 2016, in violation of sanctions rules and export laws. The US has until February to provide evidence and make a formal extradition request; if that paperwork is not in order, according to the Canadian court, Meng will be released.

Incidentally, China has since arrested and detained a Canadian ex-diplomat, which is seen by some as a reaction to the Canadian arrest of Meng.