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
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.
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.