Huawei's CFO walks free on $10M bail as she awaits extradition proceedings

Huawei's chief financial officer has been releasedon $10 million bail with five guarantors as she awaits possible extradition to the United States on fraud charges.

Meng Wanzhou, 46, was granted bail after three days of hearings concluded on Tuesday afternoon.

She exited through a side door atB.C. Supreme Court in downtown Vancouver around 8p.m. PT, nearly five hours after Justice William Ehrcke delivered his decision.

Dressed in a bright hoodie and jacket, Meng was surrounded by security and rushed into a black car, headed to the west-side home where she is set to live.

In delivering his reasons for granting the bail, the judge said $7 million of that bail payment must be made in cash.

Meng must alsoreport to a bail supervisor, maintaingood behaviour, live at a house owned by her husband, Liu Xiaozong, and stay in that house between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

She will not be allowed to leave the province of B.C.

Meng Wanzhou leaves court Tuesday evening

6 years ago

Duration 0:51

Huawei official Meng Wanzhou, arrested on a U.S. warrant, was released on $10 million bail

She must also surrender her passports, wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on her ankle and live under surveillance 24/7. Meng has been ordered to pay the surveillance costs herself.

AfterEhrckefinished reading his reasons for granting bail,Mengturned to smile and wave at her husband sitting in the front row. He'd been sittinghunched over with his chin in his handsas the judgespoke.

Bail rules 'offset risk' of flight: judge

Ehrcke saidthe "sole question" he had to consider was whether bail terms proposed by Meng's legal team were enough to "offset the risk" of her fleeing Canada.

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He told the courtroom he believed"the risk of her non-attendance in court can be reduced to an acceptable level" under the bail conditions.

The decision,which prompted an eruption of applause from the packed courtroom gallery,comes after a back and forth between Meng's lawyers and Canadian prosecutors acting on behalf of the U.S.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei's multi-billionaire founder, wasdetained inVancouver on fraud charges at the request of U.S. authorities more than a week ago. She was arrested at Vancouver International Airport on her way from Hong Kong toMexico.

Huaweiis one of the world's biggest suppliers of network gear for phone andinternetcompanies, with partnerships with various Canadian universities as well asBCEandTelus. Its 2017 annual report said it brought inmore than $90 billion USin revenue.

The extradition process could take months.Meng is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 6 to set a date for those proceedings.

In a statement posted on Twitter, HuaweiTechnologies said it "looks forward to a timely resolution."

"We have every confidence that the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will reach a just conclusion in the following proceedings. As we have stressed all along, Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries and regions where we operate, including export control and sanction laws of the UN, U.S., and EU," it read in part.

Fleeing would embarrass China: lawyer

The first two days of Meng's bail hearing were a back-and-forth argument over how or if the court could be assuredMengwouldn't flee if released on bail.

Martin presented his clientas a person of sound character who could be trusted to remain in Canada, since it wouldembarrassChinaif she fled.He also pitchedan in-depth surveillance program thatMeng would pay for herself.

Martin has also said that Meng's husbandwould pledge a total of $15 million including the value of two Vancouver homes and $1 million in cash andlive with her to ensure she obeys court conditions.Justice Ehrckequestioned his suitability as a guarantor because heisn't a B.C. resident.

John Gibb-Carsley, a federal prosecutor representing Canada's attorney general, hadasked the judge to deny Meng's request for bail, saying she has more than enough money to leave Canada and has no meaningful connection to Vancouver.

Gibb-Carsley, acting for the U.S., questioned the ability of four friends to act as sureties and asked that Liu be excluded as an option altogether. The lawyer said Liu'sinterests were "too aligned" with Meng's; if she wanted to bolt, the lawyer said, "he would go" with her.

Mengsmiled and laughed with a member of her legal team after she entered the courtroom Tuesday morning, wearing the same green correctional centre sweatsuit she's worn to all her appearances.

Liu was seated directly behind the glass prisoner's box, wearing a grey sweater and flanked by Huawei employees. The rest of the courtroom was packed with family and international media, with hordes of people waitingin the hallways for an update.

The U.S. has accusedMengofrepeatedly lying to financial institutionsabout the relationship betweenHuaweiand a company calledSkycom, which it says did business in Iran in violation of international sanctions.

She wasbeing held on a provisional warrant. U.S. authorities have60 days to make an extradition request and, as of Tuesday, have not done so.

Meng's father RenZhengfei is said to be worth $3.2 billion US. Sheserves as deputy chairof the company's board andserved on the board ofSkycomin 2008 and 2009.

Meng's case has rattledinternational financial markets and threatenedthe fragiletrading relationship between the U.S. and China. The B.C. government has already suspended at least one planned meeting in China in light of the executive's arrest.

Hours before Tuesday's hearing, news brokethat aformer Canadian diplomat who worked as a political lead for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to Hong Kong in 2016 hadreportedly been arrested in China.

News of Michael Kovrig's detention comes after China warned Canada of "consequences" for Meng's arrest but it's not clear if there is any link between the two cases.

Earlier Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump's top representative in Canada, Ambassador Kelly Craft,dismissedChinese claims of a political motive behind Meng'sarrest as "absolutely false."