Vancouver, Canada (CNN Business)- The chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei has been granted a $10 million ($7.5 million USD) bail, a judge in Canada ruled Tuesday.
Meng Wanzhou faces extradition to the United States, which has accused her of helping Huawei dodge sanctions on Iran. She was arrested December 1 in Canada during a layover at Vancouver International Airport.
As a condition of her release, Meng has agreed to surrender her passports and live in one of her homes in Vancouver. She will also pay for a 24-7 security detail and wear a GPS ankle bracelet.
Tuesday’s decision came three days into a hearing for Meng, who is a prominent executive at one of the world’s biggest makers of smartphones and networking equipment.
Meng’s attorney, David Martin, argued that she should be released on bail while she waits for an extradition hearing because of health concerns. Meng has severe hypertension, for which she was hospitalized after her arrest.
At issue in court was whether Meng posed a flight risk. Martin said she did not, since her ties to Vancouver go back 15 years and she has two homes in the area. Leaving Canada would also embarrass her personally, and would humiliate her father, Huawei and China itself, Martin said.
On Tuesday, Meng’s legal team proposed that the terms of her release could include financial pledges from people in Canada who know her, such as a realtor and insurance agent. Together they pledged more than $3 million ($2.2 million USD) in home equity and cash, which they’d owe if Meng flees. Her husband also offered to put up the couple’s two houses in Vancouver.
The judge agreed to those terms. Of Meng’s $10 million bail, $3 million of that is pledged by her sureties. The other $7 million ($5.2 million USD) is a cash deposit from Meng.
Tuesday’s decision could help ease tensions between Washington and Beijing as the two sides try to negotiate an end to their bruising trade war.
Her arrest had been met with consternation from Chinese officials. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said over the weekend that it had summoned both US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad and Canadian Ambassador to China John McCallum to address Meng’s detention, which it described as “lawless, reasonless and ruthless.”
President Donald Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that he would intervene in the Meng case if he thought it was “good for the country.”
“If I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made -— which is a very important thing — what’s good for national security — I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,” Trump told Reuters.
Meng, 46, is the daughter of Huawei’s founder. In addition to her role as CFO, she serves as deputy chairperson of the company’s board.
Huawei said in a statement that the company has “every confidence that the Canadian and US legal systems will reach a just conclusion” in the case. The company reiterated that follows all the laws and regulations where it operates.
The United States alleges that Meng helped Huawei get around US sanctions on Iran by telling financial institutions such as HSBC that a Huawei subsidiary, Skycom, was a separate and unaffiliated company.
The US Justice Department has declined to comment on the case. Meng faces “serious charges of fraud involving millions of dollars” in the United States, according to the affidavit of a Canadian law enforcement official. She could receive substantial jail time if convicted, the statement said.
The process of approving or denying Meng’s extradition is expected to take months. Meng is due back in court February 6.
The United States has 60 days from the date of a provisional arrest to provide Canada with its formal extradition request and supporting documents. Canada’s Justice Department then has 30 days to weigh the request and greenlight an extradition hearing in which the request is weighed by a judge.
As reported by CNN