US judge issues ruling against Huawei CFO whose arrest in Canada almost broke US-China and China-Canada relations in 2018; says: Cannot reject …

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou admitted a few years ago that the Chinese smartphone giant illegally conducted business in Iran. According to a report by Reuters, a US judge has rejected the company's attempt to block the admission and ruled that statements made by Wanzhou as part of a 2021 agreement with US prosecutors can be used as evidence in the upcoming criminal trial against Huawei.

This comes after Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, became the centre of an international dispute in 2018 after she was arrested in Vancouver on a US warrant. The arrest significantly strained relations between the United States and China, as well as between Canada and China.In a recent ruling, seen by Reuters and filed earlier this week in federal court in Brooklyn, US District Judge Ann Donnelly said Wanzhou's admissions regarding Huawei's business dealings in Iran and her actions as the company's executive can be presented at trial."Meng was — and is still — Huawei Tech’s CFO. Huawei Tech should not be able to object that admitting the statement of its senior executive about her conduct in connection with her job — which Huawei Tech adopted — violates Huawei Tech’s rights,” Donnelly wrote in the ruling.The judge also rejected Huawei's argument that prosecutors should not be allowed to use Wanzhou's admissions against the company because Huawei has a separate right to remain silent.

Donnelly further ruled that prosecutors are not required to call Wanzhou as a witness or make her available for cross-examination during the trial.In 2018, US authorities accused Wanzhou and Huawei of bank fraud, alleging that they misled HSBC and other financial institutions about Huawei's business activities in Iran. Wanzhou spent nearly three years under house arrest in Canada while fighting extradition to the United States.In 2021, she agreed to a deferred prosecution deal with US prosecutors. Under the deal, Wanzhou signed a four-page statement of facts admitting she lied to a financial institution about Huawei’s compliance with sanctions and export-control laws. Eventually, the deal led to the criminal charges against her being dropped.Shortly after Wanzhou returned to China, Chinese authorities released two Canadian citizens who had been detained there.

Around the same time, two American siblings who had been unable to leave China were also allowed to return home.

Huawei trial in the US scheduled for September: What we know so far

The criminal case against Huawei has continued despite Wanzhou's settlement with US prosecutors. In addition to allegations related to Iran-linked business activities, US prosecutors have accused the company of stealing trade secrets and committing other offences through a superseding indictment.Since 2019, the US government has imposed restrictions on Huawei's access to American technology, citing national security concerns. Huawei has repeatedly denied the allegations.Jury selection in the Huawei trial is scheduled to begin on September 8, with Wanzhou's admissions now expected to form part of the evidence prosecutors will present against the company.