Huawei CFO arrested in Vancouver by Canadian authorities

2021-09-20

On Wednesday, Canadian authorities arrested Wanzhou Meng Huawei’s CFO and daughter of the co-founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei while she was switching flights in Vancouver. This was done at the request of United States law enforcement. She is alleged by the Eastern District of New York to evading sanctions against Iran.

Also today, the CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) director warned Canadians about “state-sponsored espionage” with 5G networks that are currently in development with both Telus and Bell. Rogers has been holding 5G test trials with Ericcson. This is all happening not long after New Zealand and Australia have agreed to ban carriers from purchasing Huawei’s telecom equipment due to safety concerns.

Following the arrest, Huawei Global provided a statement to Mobile Syrup regarding the current situation.

“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 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.”

ZTE was banned from the US this year for violating the basis of sanctions against Iran until Trump and the Chinese government were able to reach a deal. Should something escalate with Ms. Meng’s arrest, will China want to make another deal with President Trump?

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