By Moira Warburton and Steve Stecklow
TORONTO/LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Meng Wanzhou, chief
financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, will
appear in a Vancouver, Canada, courtroom on Monday for the first
day of her extradition trial, a process expected to take months
- possibly years - to decide whether she can be extradited from
Canada to the United States.
Here is a timeline of the case and its geopolitical
implications.
Dec. 30, 2012 – Reuters publishes an exclusive story https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-huawei-hp/exclusive-huawei-partner-offered-embargoed-hp-gear-to-iran-idUSBRE8BT0BF20121230
citing documents that showed a major partner of Huawei had
offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed
Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran’s largest
mobile-phone operator in late 2010.
Jan. 31, 2013 - Reuters publishes another exclusive story https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-huawei-skycom/exclusive-huawei-cfo-linked-to-firm-that-offered-hp-gear-to-iran-idUKBRE90U0CA20130131
revealing that Meng had served on the board of the company that
had attempted to sell the embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer
equipment to the Iranian mobile-phone operator. These two
stories played a central role in the Meng case and were later
cited in her indictment.
Aug. 22, 2018: A New York court issues an arrest warrant for
Meng, so that she could be detained to stand trial in the United
States.
Nov. 29, 2018: The United States learns that Meng will be
passing through Vancouver International Airport on her way to
Mexico.
Dec. 1, 2018: Meng is arrested by Canadian police in
Vancouver as she changes planes. The arrest is not made public
until Dec. 5. The Chinese embassy in Canada demands her release.
DEC. 7, 2018: Court proceedings show that the United States
issued the arrest warrant because it believes Meng covered up
attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran,
breaking U.S. sanctions against the country.
Dec. 10, 2018: Two Canadians are detained in China - a former
Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, and businessman Michael
Spavor. China denies their arrests are related to Meng's case.
Dec. 11, 2018: Meng is released on bail by a British
Columbian court. U.S. President Donald Trump says he will
intervene in the case if it would serve national interests.
Jan. 8, 2019: Documents found by Reuters confirm Huawei's
links to companies suspected of operating in Iran and Syria,
breaking sanctions.
Jan. 22, 2019: The U.S. Justice Department announces it will
formally seek the extradition of Meng to the United States.
Jan. 23, 2019: John McCallum, Canada's ambassador to China,
tells Chinese-language media that Huawei can make a good case
against extradition, thanks in part to Trump's comments about
his willingness to get involved.
Jan. 26, 2019: Trudeau fires McCallum after his comments to
the press, marking the first time a Canadian ambassador had ever
been fired.
Feb. 4, 2019: Canadian canola shipments are delayed in
clearing Chinese customs.
March 1, 2019: Canada approves the extradition order of Meng
to the United States.
April 29, 2019: Canadian farm exports across the board hit
obstacles at Chinese ports.
July 15, 2019: Canada postpones deciding whether to allow
Huawei to build a 5G cellphone network in Canada, due to the
ongoing dispute.
Sept. 23, 2019: Canada's attorney general said there was no
evidence that Canadian border officials or police acted
improperly when Meng was detained and arrested at Vancouver's
airport.
Sept. 24, 2019: Meng returned to a Vancouver court as her
lawyers argued that Canadian authorities abused their powers and
violated her rights to gather evidence against her, a claim the
government denies.
Oct. 2, 2019: Any errors in the arrest of Meng in Canada
last December were technical in nature and do not meet the
requirements to suspend her extradition proceedings to the
United States, government lawyers said in court on Wednesday.
Dec. 10, 2019: Lawyers for Huawei’s chief financial officer
have won a court battle after a judge asked Canada’s attorney
general to hand over more evidence and documents relating to the
arrest of Meng.
Dec. 20, 2019: China's case against the two detained
Canadians is turned over to prosecutors.
Jan. 10, 2020: Meng's conduct amounts to fraud under
Canadian law and the court need not consider U.S. sanctions law,
Canadian federal prosecutors argued in a court filing released
on Friday.
Jan. 13, 2020: A Canadian court denies a request to
broadcast a portion of the trial.
Jan. 17, 2020: Extraditing Meng to the United States based
on American sanctions against Iran would set a dangerous
precedent and could even undermine Canada's policy towards Iran,
Meng's lawyers argued in court documents released on Friday.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton and Steve Stecklow
Editing by Denny Thomas and Lisa Shumaker)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)