Huawei pushes US to release secret files on HSBC-Meng Wanzhou ties as legal battle broadens

Huawei’s lawyers filed letter with US Court for the Eastern District of New York, requesting results of previous investigations into HSBC

Chinese tech giant claims HSBC knew of Meng Wanzhou’s business dealings with Iran before key meeting in 2013

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Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was detained at Vancouver International Airport in December 2018 on an arrest warrant issued by US authorities who want her to face trial in New York on bank fraud charges. Photo: AP

Published: 10:00pm, 21 Feb 2020Updated: 5:54am, 25 Dec 2021

Huawei Technologies has asked the US government to release a long list of documents related to the extradition case against chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, according to a letter filed by the company’s US lawyers to the Court for the Eastern District of New York.

In the letter, seen by the South China Morning Post, Huawei’s lawyers wrote that the US government possesses documents that “appear certain” to prove that Meng did not dupe HSBC into handling Iran-related transactions – a core element of US efforts to extradite Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, from Canada.

The letter, filed by lawyers at New York-based Sidley Austin and Washington-based Jenner & Block, marks a broadening in Huawei’s long legal battle over the extradition of Meng.

Meng was detained at Vancouver International Airport in December 2018 on an arrest warrant issued by US authorities who want her to face trial in New York on bank fraud charges.

Huawei is attempting to disprove allegations that in a 2013 meeting, Meng lied to HSBC over the company’s relationship with Skycom, an affiliate that was doing business in Iran. US prosecutors claim that Meng had put HSBC at risk of breaching US sanctions on Iran, and her PowerPoint presentation – delivered at the 2013 meeting – is a central piece of evidence.

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