Three years has been under house arrest in Canada at the request of the United States, the financial director of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou. Three years with a bracelet with GPS on an ankle to prevent China from escaping while US justice asked for its extradition to judge it for banking fraud and conspiracy related to alleged violations of the United States sanctions to Iran on the part of a Subsidiary of Huawei.
This Friday, Meng (49 years old) reached an agreement with New York Prosecutors to end their detention in Vancouver and be able to return to China. A Brooklyn court fixed a deferred prosecution, with the condition that he will accept a "Declaration of Acts" on the case, including providing "deliberately false statements" to the HSBC Bank on Huawei's business in Iran.
However, Meng declared "not guilty" of the charges of fraud and conspiracy. Although, as part of the deal, he did accept a "declaration of facts" admitting that, knowingly, he made false statements to HSBC. The charges would be withdrawn in December 2022 according to the agreement, which would leave it without a criminal record.
The Department of Justice also withdrew the request for extradition and the conditions of their bail were raised. "Mrs. Meng has assumed responsibility for her main role in the perpetration of a plan to defraud a global financial institution," said the Justice Department.
"During the last three years, my life has changed radically, it was a disturbing moment for me, as a mother, wife and executive of the company, but I think each cloud has a positive side, it really was an invaluable experience in my life. Never I will forget all the good wishes I received from people from all over the world, "Meng said to journalists after being released. Shortly after, she got on a non-scheduled Air China flight to Shenzhen City, headquarters of the Telecommunications Giant Huawei, where she awaits her father, Ren Zhengfei, founder of the company.
This puts an end to a judicial embrogish that twisted even more China relations with the United States and Canada. Washington has accused Huawei that Chinese authorities use their espionage equipment. In 2019, the US imposed sanctions on Huawei and placed it on a black export list.
A week after Meng was arrested on December 1, 2018 in Vancouver at the request of US authorities, the Chinese police stopped two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spawor, accused of espionage and "participate in activities that threaten national security threatening from China". Washington and Ottawa assured that it was two arbitrary arrests such as reprisal by the arrest of Meng.
But the new agreement reached not only ensures the release of Meng, but has also caused Beijing to free the two Canadians, a news that was announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "At the same time as Meng took off, another flight that transported Kovrig and Spawor left the Chinese airspace and are on the way home," Trudeau said.
Spawor was imprisoned in the city of Dandong, northeast of China, near the border with North Korea. There, this entrepreneur was experiencing a company focused on sports exchanges between North Korea and Canada. He was the one who organized the controversial visits of 2013 and 2017 of the Basketball Star Dennis Rodman to Pyongyang. The other Michael arrested, Kovrig, was in Beijing. He worked between 2013 and 2016 in the Canadian embassies in the capital and in Hong Kong. At the time of the arrest of him he was an employee of the International Crisis Group Organization, dedicated to the analysis of armed conflicts in the world.
Kovrig and Spawor were judged last March. Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in China, while no verdict was announced in the case of Kovrig. All this process is annulled after the release of Huawei heiress in Vancouver. Each piece returns free to its starting point: Meng Wanzhou to China and the Michaels back to Canada.
Date Of Update: 25 September 2021, 02:33
