This PowerPoint presentation proves Huawei CFO Sabrina Meng Wanzhou is guilty, says US. Preposterous, says her lawyer
- The presentation, given by Sabrina Meng Wanzhou to a HSBC banker in 2013, describes the links between Huawei and Skycom, a ‘partner’ doing business in Iran
- But the US says Skycom was actually an unofficial subsidiary, helping Huawei evade US and EU sanctions on Iran
Monday, 17 December, 2018,
In August 2013, Huawei CFO Sabrina Meng Wanzhou faced a HSBC banker and did something countless other executives have done before – she gave a PowerPoint presentation.
But according to the United States, the presentation was far from ordinary: it was fraud, designed to help Huawei evade US and EU sanctions against Iran, in a deception involving hundreds of millions of dollars. It lies at the heart of the US case against Meng, and her arrest in Vancouver on December 1.
Her detention has sparked fury in Beijing, which summoned the US and Canadian ambassadors and has warned of “grave consequences” unless Meng is released. Two Canadian citizens have since been detained by China, in possible retaliation for Meng’s arrest, although Beijing says they are suspected of national security breaches.
The contents of Meng’s 17-slide PowerPoint presentation, and the US version of events surrounding it, have been revealed in exhibits to the British Columbia Supreme Court, where a Canadian judge last week granted Meng’s release on bail of C$10 million (US$7.5 million) pending a hearing on extradition to the US.
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Both US prosecutors and Meng’s lawyers agree that the presentation, initially delivered with the help of an English translator, was intended to allay concerns at HSBC that Huawei may have been breaching US sanctions by doing business in Iran, thereby leading HSBC to do the same.
The bank was understandably nervous about running afoul of US prosecutors – in 2012, it had agreed to pay a US$1.9 billion fine to avoid a federal indictment for money laundering.
However, the US says the PowerPoint show was effectively a first-person con by Meng, filled with “numerous untrue or misleading representations”. That is hotly denied by her lawyers.
“The suggestion that this 2013 PowerPoint induced [HSBC] to continue to provide financial services is preposterous,” said David J. Martin, Meng’s lawyer at the bail hearing, on December 7.
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“Quite apart from whether or not such a document could induce [HSBC] … there is obviously concern about Ms Meng’s mens rea [intent of wrongdoing]: this is a document that is produced by a large department of the Huawei company.”
The provisional arrest request, which was given to Canada on November 30, went on to claim a “basis for urgency” in apprehending Meng.
It said that just one day earlier, on November 29, the US had found out she would be travelling from Hong Kong to Canada, on her way to Mexico, using her Hong Kong passport.
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“US authorities believe, based on the totality of circumstances, that unless Meng is provisionally arrested in Canada on Saturday, December 1, 2018, while in transit, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to secure her presence in the United States for prosecution,” it said.
ncluded with the request were two photos of Meng to aid Canadian police in her identification.
The request was duly endorsed by Constable Yap, of the RCMP’s Foreign and Domestic Liaison Unit, who formally requested her arrest.
And at around 11.30am the next day, Meng touched down in Vancouver on Cathay Pacific Flight CX838.
She thought it would be a 12-hour stopover.
But instead she remains ensconced in a C$5.6 million (US$4.2 million) house she and her husband own on Vancouver’s 28th Avenue, under the 24-hour watch of private security guards and wearing a GPS tracker on her ankle.
Her next court appearance is scheduled for February 6, to set a date for her extradition hearing. It will be likely be months before she leaves Canada.
As for Skycom, it was dissolved last year, according to filings cited by Bloomberg.
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