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Meng Wanzhou speaks at a campus recruitment event on September 2016 in Tsinghua University. Photo: Handout

Sabrina Meng in her own words: Huawei CFO cites health problems in her bid to secure bail in Canada

  • The US is seeking to extradite Meng in relation to Huawei’s alleged use of an unofficial subsidiary, Skycom, to skirt sanctions on Iran
Huawei
Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, was arrested last Friday in Vancouver, Canada at the request of the US and accused of fraudulently representing the company to get around US and EU sanctions on Iran.

The US is seeking to extradite Meng in relation to Huawei’s alleged use of an unofficial subsidiary, Skycom, to skirt the sanctions, a lawyer representing the Canadian government said. Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on December 1 as she changed planes and has been detained ever since.

Meng, a daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, attended the British Columbia Supreme Court last Friday for a bail hearing, as the US seeks her extradition on fraud charges. The hearing ended without a decision and will continue on Monday.

Ahead of the continuation, here are some of the details of Meng’s personal affidavit filed with the Supreme Court:

  • Meng describes herself as a 46-year old Chinese citizen, holding a Hong Kong and Chinese passport, who lives in Shenzhen.
  • Meng says her family have extensive ties to Canada, and Vancouver in particular.
  • Although Meng relinquished permanent resident status in Canada, she says her family have bought two homes in Vancouver.
  • Those two homes include a property bought in 2009 with her husband at 4005 28th Street, and another at 1603 Matthews Street in 2016.
  • Meng says she tries to spend at least 2-3 weeks in Vancouver every summer. Since 2012 her children, who attended school in Vancouver, no longer live there.
  • After being detained and interrogated at Vancouver International Airport on Friday, Meng says she was taken to Richmond General Hospital after feeling unwell due to severe hypertension, a condition she has struggled with “for years”.
  • Meng says she continues to feel unwell and is worried about her health “deteriorating” while she is incarcerated.
  • Meng says she has had numerous health problems throughout her life, including thyroid cancer, for which she underwent surgery in 2011.
  • In May 2018, Meng says she had surgery to remedy health issues related to sleep apnoea and still has difficulty eating solid foods – which has caused her to modify her diet. She has received daily packages of medicines from her doctor for years to treat her ailments.
  • Meng points out she has no previous criminal record in China or anywhere else.
  • If she is granted bail, Meng offers to surrender both her passports, to live at her home at 4005 28th Street, to have her family live with her as permitted by Canada’s immigration laws, she is willing to pledge the equity of either or both her houses as security, or to make a cash deposit as directed by the court.
  • Meng says she would not breach any bail conditions because of the reputational damage it could do to Huawei, the company her father founded.
  • Finally, Meng says she is innocent of the allegations levelled against her and will contest the allegations at trial in the US if she is ultimately surrendered.

Case: In the matter of the Extradition Act, S.C. 1999, c. 18 as amended in the matter of the Attorney General of Canada on behalf of the United States of America and Wanzhou Meng, also known as “Cathy Meng” and “Sabrina Meng”.

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