Chinese tech company Huawei investigated for violating Iran sanctions by US Department of Justice

Huawei, the world’s third-biggest mobile phone company after Apple and Samsung, has been a target of the US government for some time - but never before by the Department of Justice

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Published: 11:45pm, 25 Apr 2018Updated: 10:28am, 26 Apr 2018

The US Justice Department is investigating China’s Huawei Technologies, the largest maker of telecom equipment in the world, for violating US sanctions in relation to Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, amid growing concern in Washington about Chinese technology companies.

The report follows news last week that the Justice Department activated sanctions on another Chinese telecom equipment producer, ZTE, on charges related to its equipment sales in the same Middle Eastern country.

Huawei had previously been subpoenaed by the US Commerce Department and the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the source said. But the Justice Department’s criminal inquiry suggests more serious misconduct - and consequently more serious repercussions.

While the commerce and treasury departments can levy sanctions and fines, the justice department can go further, imposing a corporate monitor or criminal penalties, even charging individuals within the company.

Details about the probe, including what allegations have been levelled, are not available, the Journal said.

“Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including the applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, US and EU,” Huawei's US-based senior director for corporate communications said in an email to the South China Morning Post.

The Justice Department’s action against ZTE last week was taken to punish the telecom equipment maker after it allegedly made false statements in an investigation into measures it was supposed to take against employees running a unit that was doing business with Iran and covering up those deals.

ZTE’s sales of “hundreds of millions of [US] dollars” worth of routers, microprocessors and servers to Iranian entities violated the US’s Export Administration Act of 1979, according to an order by the US Department of Commerce.

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