Canada Arrests Top Huawei Executive For Allegedly Violating Iran Sanctions (theglobeandmail.com)

Canada has arrested Huawei's chief financial officer on suspicion of violating U.S. trade sanctions against Iran. "Wanzhou Meng, who is also the deputy chair of Huawei's board and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Vancouver at the request of U.S. authorities," reports The Globe and Mail. From the report: "Wanzhou Meng was arrested in Vancouver on December 1. She is sought for extradition by the United States, and a bail hearing has been set for Friday," Justice department spokesperson Ian McLeod said in a statement to The Globe and Mail. "As there is a publication ban in effect, we cannot provide any further detail at this time. The ban was sought by Ms. Meng.

A Canadian source with knowledge of the arrest said U.S. law enforcement authorities are alleging that Ms. Meng tried to evade the U.S. trade embargo against Iran but provided no further details. Since at least 2016, U.S. authorities have been reviewing Huawei's alleged shipping of U.S.-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of U.S. export and sanctions laws.

Comments

Hostage for negotiation

[hackingbear]

Holding as a hostage for negotiation. I thought only terrorists think of this trick and a not a country that say "In God We Trust"?

Re:Hostage for negotiation

[Anonymous Coward]

US BAD (Score:5, Interesting)

No more sense than Westboro around here.

Re:Hostage for negotiation

[bickerdyke]

Sounds logical.... until you're thinking it through...

So.. let's say some European country has money laundering laws that require you to report your bank accounts or international money transfers to the local law enforcement authorities.

Coco Cola company does business with that country.

So every Coca Coly employee going on vavation to Euro Disney or Heidelberg should be arrested on spot because Cocoa Coly Company did not report the sale of Coke Mexico to the EU authorities?

Yes, if you are doing business in that country what you are doing in that country is subject to that countries laws.

Just because your company is doing buisness in Japan does NOT imply you have to drive on the left side of the road in the town Whatever, Indiana!

Rio Tinto

[emil]

Yes, this is the Wikipedia entry for the Rio Tinto prosecution.

Several mining companies reported that their computer systems were compromised around that time.

Re:Isn't there such a thing as a "corporate veil?"

[ghoul]

The problem is that these sanctions are illegal (as in unilateral and not UN sanctioned) so for Huawei to actually follow the sanctions would be illegal and Huawei execs could be arrested for doing so. They cant win.
US law has no validity outside of US. I dont know how Canada is going to extradite when no crime has been committed on US soil or Candian soil. This is just a kidnapping.

Every country for itself

[shanen]

Why am I not surprised to see such wild goose threads as this? Rather sad not to see any funny comments, but no mention of Nissan or stock prices and only trivial mentions of Iran.

Starting with the Iran aspect since it did get touched: Violation of sanctions is a matter of opinion, where the rest of the world is on the other side from TrumpLand. Not sure what pressure they managed to find to persuade Canada to make the arrest, but it's not a wise move. The stock market is going to be badly spooked no matter what Xi decides to do about it.

However I think the general anarchic attitude towards international law is beginning to bear poisonous fruit. A few weeks ago the Japanese government arrested Ghosn of Nissan for crimes that most of the French regard as trumped up. Going to be interesting trying to recruit executives for international assignments going forward.

Anyway, my own experiences with Huawei products have been surprisingly positive. Is that a disclaimer or a hedge?