HUAWEI CFO will fight the US government next year to stay in Canada

The battle over Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou’s possible extradition to the U.S. will begin January 20, 2020, reported Bloomberg today. Meng is currently free on bail and under house arrest.

According to the fraud charge against Meng, she tried to circumvent the current U.S. trade embargo with Iran by tricking banks into conducting transactions for HUAWEI. Canadian authorities arrested Meng in December 2018, reportedly at the request of the U.S. government.

Meng’s defense lawyers called the U.S. accusations politically motivated and accused Canada of an “abuse of process.” Also, Meng was allegedly denied her constitutional rights when Canadian authorities detained, interrogated, searched, and ultimately arrested her this past December.

Lastly, Meng’s defense said banks didn’t break any laws due to Canada not having sanctions against Iran. The so-called “double criminality” rule states that a person may be extradited from Canada if it and another country recognize the person’s conduct as criminal.

The situation with Meng has so far been a microcosm of the frosty relationship between HUAWEI and the U.S. government. In May, President Donald Trump’s executive order placed HUAWEI on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List. Since then, numerous corporations either cut or halted business ties with HUAWEI.

Extradition proceedings could be finished by October 2020.

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