Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, in late 2018 at the behest of the US government, which accused her and the company of bank fraud and evading sanctions against Iran. The United States alleges that Huawei and Meng misrepresented their relationship with Iranian telco Skycom before HSBC to circumvent those sanctions. A Canadian court is considering extraditing Meng to the United States for trial on the charges, which she and Huawei have denied.
Chinese state media for the past year has been hitting HSBC, which has its roots in Hong Kong and Shanghai, for its role in Meng’s arrest.
The allegations that HSBC conspired with the US government resurfaced last week after the new legal documents filed by Meng’s attorneys were made public. Lawyers are trying to show that HSBC knew that Huawei was operating in Iran and that Huawei and Skycom did business in the country.
Meng’s lawyers accuse US authorities of collecting information from a Power Point presentation that Huawei made to HSBC in 2013. The lawyers presented the full presentation, which they say clearly demonstrates Huawei’s relationship with Skycom and its business in Iran, according to documents filed by the court. The filing also stated that Huawei “operates in Iran in strict compliance with applicable laws, regulations and sanctions.”
“HSBC knew that Skycom and Huawei were operating together in Iran,” according to the documents.
In its response, HSBC said it was not involved in the United States’ decision to indict Huawei or request Meng’s arrest in Canada.
“We recently noticed some media updates that led to a misinterpretation of the facts,” HSBC said in its WeChat statement, which was provided to CNN Business. “The timeline in the Huawei case makes it absolutely clear that HSBC did not push for the Huawei investigation. The US government’s scrutiny of Huawei began long before HSBC became involved in the case in late 2016” .
He continued: “HSBC has no hostility towards Huawei and did not ‘frame’ Huawei.”
The bank also said that after “Negative media coverage of Huawei’s relationship with Skycom in December 2012 and January 2013, HSBC made standard inquiries to Huawei, which was part of the normal process … of the bank. “He did not elaborate.
Huawei declined to comment for this story, referring CNN Business to the legal documents that were released last week.
Tensions between HSBC and China have been increasing since Meng’s arrest, putting HSBC in a difficult situation. The bank, which started life as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, earns most of its money in Asia, despite its headquarters being in the United Kingdom.
Chinese state media has previously suggested that the bank could appear on a long list of “unreliable” foreign companies that China could blacklist. And while the HSBC CEO for Asia and the Pacific publicly supported a controversial national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong, Chinese state media continued to criticize the bank.
In its weekend statement, HSBC highlighted its decades-long support for China’s economic and social development.
“We will continue to invest in our business, services, talents and technology in China and contribute to the sustainable development of the country,” said the bank.
“The lender could face a dead end for conspiring with the United States against Huawei,” the publication wrote, citing Chinese analysts and observers.
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