Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou seeks HSBC records to counter Iran-linked fraud claims
- Meng says documents will show what the bank knew about Huawei’s ties to Iranian firm at the centre of US extradition request
- Bank says Meng has no jurisdiction in London to bring the disclosure application
The 48-year-old Chinese executive was arrested in Canada on a US handover request in December 2018 and later released on C$10 million (US$7.9 million) bail.
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At the heart of the case lies a Powerpoint presentation Meng gave to HSBC in Hong Kong in 2013.
In a court filing made public on Friday, Meng’s lawyer James Lewis said his client maintained that the presentation made clear that Skycom was a business partner of Huawei and worked with the firm in sales and services in Iran.
US prosecutors and HSBC contest this. They say the presentation was misleading because Meng failed to state that Huawei controlled Skycom’s operations in Iran. The US alleges that because of this, HSBC continued to provide banking services to Huawei, including clearing US dollar transactions related to Skycom’s commerce in Iran, according to Lewis.
Meng’s alleged deceit was said to have placed HSBC’s economic interests at risk, by exposing it to the potential violation of US sanctions, he said. Meng denies any wrongdoing.
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A spokesman for HSBC said the disclosure application was without merit. The bank was not a party to the criminal case in the US or the Canadian extradition proceedings, he said.
The bank’s lawyer Rupert Allen argued at Friday’s hearing that Meng had no jurisdiction in London to bring the disclosure application.
A spokeswoman for Huawei declined to comment. Meng’s extradition proceedings are due to start in March.
She hoped to use the bank’s records in “in support of her abuse of process and evidential sufficiency arguments in the extradition proceedings”, Lewis said.