Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou and the US Department of Justice on Friday entered an agreement to defer prosecution of US charges against her until late 2022, after which point the charges could be dropped.
The deal, which allowed Meng to return to China, could bring to an end a nearly three-year legal saga that has complicated relations between the United States, China and Canada. Meng left Canada Friday on a flight for China chartered by the Chinese government, state-run news agency Xinhua reported. In a lengthy post on her WeChat account Saturday, Meng described tearing up as her flight from Vancouver to Shenzhen crossed the North Pole and praised China’s ruling Communist Party. A CNN source has seen the post which is not open to be publicly viewed. “As we get closer to home, I feel increasingly emotional, with tears welling up in my eyes. Under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, our motherland is moving toward prosperity. Without this strong motherland, I wouldn’t have my freedom today,” she wrote. “I thank my beloved motherland, and I thank the Party and the government… for shining a light during my darkest hours and guiding me in my long journey home.” Following her release, two Canadians detained by China for nearly three years were also freed, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday. The US case centered on whether Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, misled HSBC about Huawei’s relationship with an Iranian subsidiary, Skycom, which the US alleges could have put the bank at risk of sanctions violations. Meng appeared virtually in a court in Brooklyn, New York, and pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and wire fraud.
