B.C. Supreme Court Judge Grants Huawei CFO Bail at $10 Million [u]

Gary Ng
5 years ago

After a bail hearing lasting a few days, a B.C. Supreme Court Judge has granted bail for Huawei CFO, Meng Wanzhou, after she was arrested in Vancouver last Friday, over allegations she was behind a scheme to bypass U.S. sanctions against Iran, with a shell company linked to Huawei.

The bail amount is $10 million CAD, with $7 million to be in cash, according to journalist Emily Lazatin from CKNW, who has been live-tweeting the hearings.

Wanzhou’s legal team proposed bail conditions of $15 million, a surrender of her passports (China, Hong Kong), house arrest plus a GPS ankle bracelet, along with third-party security to ensure she does not flee one of her two Vancouver homes, paid for by the Huawei CFO. As for the ankle bracelet, the court previously heard it would be tracked using GPS and cellular–on the Rogers 3G network.

The Crown’s legal team said she was a flight risk because of her family’s wealth, with her father—the founder of Huawei—worth $3.2 billion US dollars.

Wanzhou’s father was a former member of China’s People’s Liberation Army and Communist Party. His ties to the Chinese government have many western governments suspect Huawei is capable of espionage when it comes to networking equipment.

Huawei hardware is being used by Canada’s wireless carriers such as Telus for building out next-generation 5G networks. Canada has not banned Huawei networking hardware or smartphones, but the United States has encouraged its allies to do so.

Huawei told CKNW the following statement, “We have every confidence that the Canadian and US legal systems will reach a just conclusion in the following proceedings.”

Earlier today, a former Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, was arrested in China, which apparently was unrelated to the Huawei CFO’s arrest in Vancouver.

As for travel to China, CTV News reports Canada is “considering increasing travel risk levels to China for Canadians.”

Wanzhou is set to appear in court again on February 6, 2018. She faces possible U.S. extradition, a lengthy process which is expected to take months.

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