U.S. charges against Huawei executive stem from 2013 - bail hearing

Meng is being accused of fraud by the US government, which wants her extradited from Canada to face the charge.

That was compounded by news that a top executive at Chinese telecoms giant Huawei had been arrested in Canada and faces extradition to the USA over allegations the firm had broken sanctions linked to Iran.

An investigation into Huawei's alleged violations of United States sanctions against Iran has been going on since at least 2016, Reuters reported in April.

SkyCom employees used Huawei email addresses and bank records linked the two companies together, and SkyCom was used to engage in business deals with sanctioned countries, including with Iranian telecom companies, the court heard.

She is specifically accused of lying to United States banks about the use of a covert subsidiary to sell to Iran in breach of sanctions.

A Huawei spokesman declined to comment on Thursday before Meng's court appearance and said that Wednesday's statement still stands.

Meng appeared in a Vancouver court on Friday for a bail hearing.

As a gallery full of worldwide media and concerned locals sat rapt in downtown Vancouver's largest courtroom, a legal argument over whether Ms. Meng should be awarded bail while facing extradition to the United States began delving into the details of a saga that has drawn Canada into a global power struggle between the United States and China, which has called for her release. Huawei has denied violating sanctions.

Martin said at the meeting Meng had with a bank that was referred to in a story by Reuters, she explained Huawei owned Skycom for a period of time but it sold the company in 2009. This is also believed to have helped Huawei "circumvent United States sanctions by telling financial institutions that a Huawei subsidiary was a separate company".

China says Meng has done nothing wrong and has demanded her release.

Freeland reiterated what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday: that Meng's arrest was part of an independent legal process that is separate from politics. Prosecutors claim that she is a flight risk due to her family's vast wealth, while the defense points out that Meng has resided with her husband and children in Vancouver for years, and had obtained permanent residence status.

"The Chinese government should seriously mull over the United States tendency to abuse legal procedures to suppress China's high-tech enterprises", said the nationalist tabloid Global Times in an editorial.

The United States and Australia, both members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance that also includes Canada, New Zealand, and the UK, have banned Huawei from their 5G networks-the next generation in wireless technology. Moreover, US authorities believe that Huawei's top managers began avoiding travel to the US around April 2017 after becoming aware of the US criminal probe.

Regardless of what violations might have occurred, it makes sense to go after Meng, CUNY'S Ming said.

Congress issued a report concluding that "Huawei did not fully cooperate with the investigation and was unwilling to explain its relationship with the Chinese government or Chinese Communist Party, while credible evidence exists that it fails to comply with USA laws".

Trump did not know about the arrest in advance, two USA officials said on Thursday. Meng is also known by the names Sabrina Meng and Cathy Meng.