China Blasts Huawei CFO's 'Arbitrary Detention'; She Admits to Bank Fraud

Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou flew home to China Friday, released from custody in Canada through the "unremitting efforts of the Chinese government," said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Saturday. Meng endured nearly three years of "arbitrary detention" by U.S. and Canadian authorities, said the spokesperson, making no mention of the deal Meng signed with DOJ admitting to bank fraud as a condition for her release.

Meng's case was "an incident of political persecution against a Chinese citizen, an act designed to hobble Chinese high-tech companies," said the spokesperson. The charges against her were "purely fabricated," she said. The spokesperson told her regular daily news conference Monday, "The party and the Chinese government have the firm will and strong capability to firmly uphold the legitimate and legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens and companies."

The U.S. agreed to dismiss its multiple-count indictment against Meng at the four-year anniversary of her December 2018 arrest in Vancouver (see 1901280052) if she fully complies with the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) she reached Wednesday with the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, said DOJ Friday. Meng admits in the DPA to defrauding "global financial institutions" by lying about Huawei’s ownership in its Iranian affiliate Skycom, as documented in a “statement of facts” accompanying the agreement.

Meng “stipulates” she reviewed the statement of facts with her lawyers and a translator, and all details of her wrongdoing listed in the statement are “true and accurate to the best of her information and belief,” said the DPA. DOJ agreed to “promptly notify” Canada it’s withdrawing its request for Meng’s extradition to New York and recommended her release from detention on a “personal recognizance” bond, said the government. She confessed to her crimes “knowingly and voluntarily,” said the DPA.

Meng, her lawyers and her authorized representatives agreed not to “contradict any of the facts” in the agreement, and they are barred, under the threat of breaching the pact, from saying, suggesting or implying “in any way” that her signing of the DPA was “involuntary, unknowing or coerced,” it said. It's unclear from the DOJ materials how the U.S. would bring Meng to justice to stand trial for her alleged crimes if she violates the DPA. She need not appear in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn when the government moves in December 2022 to dismiss the indictment against her, says the DPA. DOJ didn't respond to questions Monday.

Hours after DOJ released details of its deal to free Meng, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the release and repatriation of two Canadian nationals imprisoned in China since 2018. The release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor and that of Meng were completely coincidental, said the Chinese ministry spokesperson Monday. Kovrig and Spavor, suspected of crimes endangering Chinese national security, "applied for release on bail for medical reasons," she said. They were let go "after the confirmation from related departments and diagnosis of professional medical institutes of China and under the guarantee of the Canadian ambassador to China," she said.