HSBC and Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou have reached an agreement around HSBC’s dispute over the disclosure of documents related to U.S. allegations of fraud against Meng, the two sides’ lawyers said Monday in Hong Kong.
Meng is now facing U.S. bank fraud charges and extradition pressure against her. The U.S. claims she allegedly misled HSBC about Huawei’s Iranian business, causing the bank to violate U.S. sanctions policy against Iran. Meng previously sought to obtain documents from HSBC to prevent her own extradition from Canada to the United States.
A British judge ruled on Feb. 19 that HSBC was not obligated to release internal documents involving Meng’s fraud allegations; Meng then filed an application with the Hong Kong High Court on Feb. 25.
Hong Kong Judge Linda Chan said Monday that she issued a court order regarding the content of the agreement. But the content of the order and the scope of the agreement are still unclear.
Reuters reported that spokesmen for Huawei and HSBC said on Monday that the two sides had reached an agreement, but gave no further details.
HSBC said in a statement that it had agreed to “resolve their legal proceedings in Hong Kong over the request for documents.
From December 2012 to April 2015, Huawei used Skycom Tech in Hong Kong for its Iranian operations. Arguing that she did not mislead HSBC about Huawei’s Iranian business, Meng sought access to internal HSBC documents related to Huawei’s compliance assessment with Hong Kong Starcom to overturn the U.S. extradition request.
It is not clear what documents HSBC will disclose.
Canada’s hearing in Meng’s extradition case will last until May, but an appeal could delay that progress, Nikkei Asian News said.
Huawei has accused HSBC of making false claims about Huawei’s Iranian business in exchange for U.S. prosecutors being able to get a pass on HSBC’s own actions. HSBC, for its part, said the information they provided to the U.S. side was true and correct.
Recent Comments