Canada lawyer: Huawei CFO committed "commercial dishonesty"

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies committed fraud because of what she said during a meeting with a bank official, and what she did not say, a Canadian government lawyer told an extradition hearing Wednesday.

Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder and the company’s chief financial officer, at Vancouver’s airport in late 2018. The U.S. wants her extradited to face fraud charges. Her arrest infuriated Beijing, which sees her case as a political move designed to prevent China’s rise.

The U.S. accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It says Meng, 49, committed fraud by misleading the HSBC bank about the company’s business dealings in Iran.

The lengthy extradition proceeding is entering a phase which involves arguments over the U.S. government’s request to extradite Meng.

Justice department lawyer Robert Frater said the case against Meng is “about dishonest commercial dealings.”

Meng met with an HSBC executive after a series of news stories connected Huawei with Skycom.

“Ms. Meng’s statements (during the meeting) were dishonest because of what she did say and because of what she did not say,” Frater said.

Meng told the bank official that Huawei “was not engaged in any activity that may cause HSBC to run afoul of US sanction law,” Frater said.

She also said Huawei was rigorous in its sanction compliance and demanded the same of any partners working in Iran.

“The truth is, Huawei was in full control of Skycom,” Frater said. “Skycom is Huawei.

“The dishonesty was partly through painting a picture of distance through what Ms. Meng did say and...