Canadian court grants bail to Huawei CFO

Meng Wanzhou was arrested as part of a US fraud investigation on 1 December as she was changing planes in Vancouver

Credit: REUTERS | Thomas Peter

A Canadian court on Tuesday granted bail to a top executive of Huawei Technologies while she awaits an extradition hearing, following her arrest at the request of the United States.

Meng Wanzhou, 46, Huawei's chief financial officer and daughter of its founder, was arrested as part of a US fraud investigation on 1 December as she was changing planes in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Justice William Ehrcke at a court hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, granted bail to Meng, subject to a guarantee of C$10 million (US$7.5 million) and other conditions.

China had threatened severe consequences unless Canada released Meng immediately.

A Canadian citizen has been detained in China, Canada said on Tuesday. The Canadian government said it saw no explicit link to the Huawei case, but analysts had predicted retaliation from Beijing.

Two sources told Reuters the person detained was former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, who now works for a think tank.

Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada's former ambassador to China, asked by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp whether the Kovrig detention was a coincidence, said: "In China there are no coincidences ... If they want to send you a message they will send you a message."

On 6 December, Canadian authorities arrested Wanzhou with the Canadian Justice Department saying the deputy chair of Huawei was arrested early this month and that she was sought for extradition by the United States.

The arrest heightened the sense of a major collision between the world's two largest economic powers not just over tariffs but also over technological hegemony.

It also came as an inversion in the US yield curve has stoked global investor worries of a possible US recession.

She faced accusations of covering up her company's links to a firm that tried to sell equipment to Iran despite sanctions.

(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Vancouver; writing by Nick Zieminski and Rosalba O'Brien; additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina in Beijing, John Ruwitch in Shanghai and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Cynthia Osterman and Bill Rigby)

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