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Huaweis finance director, Meng Wanzhou, is released on bail under strict conditions. The United States is still asking for her extradition.

Meng was arrested by the Canadian authorities at the beginning of this month during a transit from Hong Kong to Mexico, via Vancouver. This happened at the request of the United States, which accuses the CFO of bank fraud and indirect violation of the American trade embargo against Iran.

The CFO is said to have misled international banks about Huawei’s relationship with telecom company SkyCom, which operates in Iran. As a result of this alleged deception, the banks ran the risk of violating US sanctions against Iran.

No flight risk

On Tuesday a Canadian court decided to release Meng on bail, after the judge ruled that she was not a flight risk, says The Star Vancouver. However, the CFO is not allowed to leave the Canadian province of British Columbia and is under house arrest between 11 pm and 6 am. She has to surrender her passports, is permanently supervised and gets an ankle bracelet.

Canada has acted on an arrest warrant issued by the US on 22 August this year. The US has 60 days from the moment of arrest on 1 December to produce evidence and apply for the official extradition of Meng. If this is not done in time, the financial director of Huawei will be released.

Tense foot

The Meng case is being conducted against the background of a heated trade war between China and the United States, and US suspicions that Huawei has links with the Chinese government and facilitates espionage through its network equipment used worldwide for 4G and future 5G networks. As a result, the two countries have been living at odds with each other for some time now.

American President Donald Trump tells Reuters that he may intervene in Meng’s case if it defends national interests. China had previously warned of an appropriate response if Meng would not be released. The Chinese foreign minister Le Yucheng called the arrest extremely dirty.

The United States and Canada are reportedly considering issuing a travel warning for their residents travelling to China. Yesterday it became known that a Canadian ex-diplomat had been arrested in China, some of whom suspect that it was retaliation.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.