Meng Wanzhou, an executive at Chinese tech giant HuaweI who was arrested on fraud charges, was granted bail by a Canadian court on Tuesday.
The 46-year-old CFO is accused of helping Huawei, one of the world’s largest smartphone and networking equipment makers, get around sanctions on Iran.
“Meng and other Huawei employees repeatedly lied about the nature of the relationship between Huawei and Skycom and the fact that Skycom operated as Huawei’s Iran-based affiliate in order to continue to obtain banking services,” the U.S. said in the arrest request it delivered to Canadian authorities, according to CNN.
The U.S. has sought Meng’s arrest for months, and she was detained by Canadian law enforcement Dec. 1, while President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a temporary ceasefire on the trade war.
The two were unaware of the arrest at the time, which has caused questions over whether the ceasefire will hold up.
China has demanded Meng’s release while the U.S. has asked Canada to extradite Meng, who also serves as the deputy chairperson of Huawei’s board, so she can be tried in the U.S.
“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 when asked if he would intervene with the Justice Department in Meng’s case.
“Whatever’s good for this country, I would do,” Trump said.
The judge in Canada said in Meng’s bail hearing that she was a “well-educated businesswoman” who had no criminal record. The CFO, however, will be monitored via electronic bracelet and will have to adhere to a curfew each night.
Huawei said in a statement that the company has “every confidence the the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will reach a just conclusion in the following proceedings.”
