VANCOUVER/BEIJING (Reuters) – A Canadian court on Tuesday granted bail to a top executive of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd while she awaits a hearing for extradition to the United States, a move that could help placate Chinese officials angered by her arrest.
Meng Wanzhou, 46, Huawei’s chief financial officer and the daughter of its founder, faces U.S. accusations that she misled multinational banks about Iran-linked transactions, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions.
Justice William Ehrcke at a court hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Tuesday granted bail to Meng, subject to a guarantee of C$10 million ($7.5 million) and other conditions.
China had threatened severe consequences unless Canada released Meng immediately.
A Canadian citizen has been detained in China, Canada said on Tuesday. The Canadian government said it saw no explicit link to the Huawei case, but analysts had predicted retaliation from Beijing. Two sources told Reuters the person detained was former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, who now works for a think tank.
Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada’s former ambassador to China, asked by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp whether the Kovrig detention was a coincidence, said: “In China there are no coincidences … If they want to send you a message they will send you a message.”
Meng was detained as part of a U.S. investigation on Dec. 1 as she was changing planes in Vancouver.
Reporting by Julie Gordon in Vancouver; writing by Nick Zieminski and Rosalba O’Brien; additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina in Beijing, John Ruwitch in Shanghai and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Cynthia Osterman and Bill Rigby