Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has been released by Canadian courts and flew home to China last week after reaching an agreement with U.S. prosecutors to end their bank fraud case against her.
Last Friday, Meng, who is also the elder daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, and the U.S. Justice Department reached a deferred prosecution agreement.
Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,» according to a report citing Brooklyn-based acting U.S. attorney Nicole Boeckmann.
The current agreement only pertains to Meng and the U.S. Justice Department said it is preparing for trial against Huawei.
For the financial sector, one issue that remains unresolved is the legitimacy of Meng’s claim that HSBC had knowledge of Huawei’s relationship with Skycom – a Hong Kong-registered entity and alleged business partner that violated U.S. trade sanctions – and, in fact, knowingly placed the firm within Washington’s radar before misleading Canadian authorities on the matter.
China has been accused of engaging in hostage diplomacy as a response to Meng’s 2018 arrest with the over 1,000-day jailing of two Canadians – businessman Michael Spavor and ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig.
Beijing has repeatedly denied that the detainment of Spavor and Kovrig was retaliation for Meng’s arrest.
Within hours of the news of Meng’s deal with the U.S., the two were released from Chinese jails and on their way back home to Canada.