A Canadian court on Tuesday granted bail to Huawei’s global Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou 10 days after she was arrested at the Vancouver airport at the request of United States authorities, reported Reuters. The court’s decision came amid pressure from China for her release and hours after a former Canadian diplomat was detained in China.
Meng faces fraud charges in the US for allegedly covering up her company’s links to a firm that tried to sell equipment to Iran despite sanctions. Meng will now await her extradition hearing. If a judge in Canada rules the case against Meng is strong enough, the country’s justice minister must decide whether to extradite her to the US.
The court in Vancouver granted her bail for 10 million Canadian dollars (Rs 53.85 crore), asked her to surrender her passports and wear an ankle monitor.
“We have every confidence that the Canadian and US legal systems will reach a just conclusion in the following proceedings,” Huawei said in a statement after the bail hearing, reported CNBC. “As we have stressed all along, Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries and regions where we operate, including export control and sanction laws of the UN [United Nations], US and EU [European Union].”
Meng’s arrest has led to further strains in relations between the US and China amid the ongoing trade war. US President Donald Trump had told Reuters on Tuesday that he would intervene in the US Justice Department’s case against Meng if it would serve national security interests or help close a trade deal with China.
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