Meng Wanzhou flies back to China after deal with US prosecutors | Meng Wanzhou
Chinese telecoms executive Meng Wanzhou was freed after three years of house arrest in Canada, following an agreement with the US justice department to suspend the fraud charges against her that had poisoned Beijing’s relations with Washington and Ottawa.
Meng – Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the giant corporation’s founder – was granted release in a Vancouver court hearing, hours after US prosecutors announced an agreement in New York.
She then quickly boarded a flight to the city of Shenzhen, returning to China for the first time since her arrest in Vancouver’s international airport at the behest of US authorities in 2018, Agence France-Presse reported.
She had been under house arrest since, monitored by a private security company she pays for as part of her bail agreement.
“Over the past three years, my life has been turned upside down. It was a disruptive time for me as a mother, wife and a company executive,” she told reporters outside the court.
“But I believe every cloud has a silver lining. It really was an invaluable experience in my life,” she said. “The saying goes, the greater the difficulty, the greater the growth.”
Under the deal, Meng’s prosecution will be deferred until December next year and will be dropped entirely if she complies with her obligations. One of those obligations was not to contradict a statement of facts she signed as her part of the deal, while maintaining her plea of not guilty, or suggest that she signed it involuntarily.
The US justice department will then drop its extradition proceedings against her and its attorney, David Kessler recommended she be released on bail.
Meng’s lawyer William Taylor said: “She has not pleaded guilty and we fully expect the indictment will be dismissed with prejudice after 14 months. Now, she will be free to return home to be with her family.”
A statement from Huawei Technologies said: “We look forward to seeing Ms Meng returning home safely to be reunited with her family. Huawei will continue to defend itself against the allegations in the US district court for the eastern district of New York.”
The full agreement was not immediately made public in the court hearing.
Meng was indicted on bank and wire fraud charges for allegedly misleading HSBC bank on Huawei’s activities in Iran.
According to news reports by Reuters in 2012 and 2013, which were referred to in the US case against her, Meng and Huawei were linked to a scheme to sell computer equipment to Iran, in violation of sanctions.
The US issued a sealed warrant for Meng’s arrest in 2008, and asked the Canadian authorities to arrest her when she arrived at Vancouver airport in on 1 December 2019.
