A three-year politico-judicial saga is coming to an end.
American justice ratified, Friday, September 24, an agreement sealed between Washington and the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, which allows the financial director of the latter to return to China against a "postponement" until the end of 2022 of the proceedings against she, in particular for "bank fraud".
A judge at the Brooklyn federal court "accepted" the agreement between the US Department of Justice and lawyers for Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's financial director, whom US justice wanted to try on its soil.
A few hours later, Meng Wanzhou, under house arrest in Vancouver for almost three years, boarded a plane, bound for Shenzhen.
Over the past three years, my life has been turned upside down, "Meng Wanzhou, nicknamed Huawei's" princess, "said earlier, who has always denied the charges and pleaded" not guilty "on Friday.
In response, two Canadians, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, arrested in 2018 in China on charges of espionage, have also been released.
"These two men have lived for over 1,000 days a terrible ordeal. They have shown determination, grace, resilience at every step and they are an inspiration to us all," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, adding that they were expected on Saturday in Canada.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken quickly hailed the Chinese authorities' decision to release the two Canadians after their "arbitrary" detention which had sparked an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between Ottawa and Beijing.
Three years of legal battle
Meng Wanzhou's departure for China is the fulfillment of a spectacular agreement made public on Friday by a New York court between the Justice Department and the Chinese telecoms juggernaut.
A representative of the Department of Justice proposed in a court in New York to "postpone" until December 1, 2022 (four years after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou in Canada) the proceedings initiated since the end of 2018 against the financial director, in particular for "conspiracy" to commit "bank fraud".
If that deal is not challenged or broken by Dec. 1, the lawsuits will be dropped, according to the US Department of Justice official.
>> To read also: Canada dragged in spite of itself in the Sino-American trade conflict
The American justice accused the number 2 of the Chinese telecoms giant of having lied to an executive of the bank HSBC during a meeting in Hong Kong in 2013, about the links between the Chinese group and a subsidiary named Skycom which sold equipment to Iran, exposing the establishment to US sanctions.
According to the Justice Ministry, Meng Wanzhou admitted under the terms of the agreement that she had made "false statements" and "withheld the truth" from the HSBC executive at the time about "Huawei's activities. in Iran ", a country subject to American and international sanctions.
With the announcement of the releases, three years of legal battle and strong economic and political tensions between Beijing, Washington and Ottawa should subside.
With AFP
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