Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou faces prison for 30 years

The CFO of the top Chinese telecommunication company Huawei Technologies, Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's Founder Ren Zhengfei is accused of breaking American sanctions on Iran with a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, according to a report at the hearing. She was arrested in Vancouver on Saturday and faces extradition to the US. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Meng allowed SkyCom, an unofficial Huawei subsidiary, to do business in Iran, violating U.S. sanctions against the country and misleading American financial institutions in the process.

China has demanded Meng's release, insisting she has not violated any laws. The court is deciding whether or not to allow bail. Friday's five-hour hearing has now ended and the case was adjourned until Monday.

Meng Wanzhou's detention became public knowledge on Wednesday, but details at the time were unclear as she had requested a publication ban. That blackout has now been overturned by the court.

On Friday, the Supreme Court of British Columbia was told that Meng had used a Huawei subsidiary called Skycom to evade sanctions on Iran between 2009 and 2014.

The court was told that she had publicly misrepresented Skycom as being a separate company.

Tensions between U.S. authorities and Huawei have been high since 2016, aggravated by an ongoing U.S.-China trade war. The U.S. has long viewed Huawei and its close ties to the Chinese government as a threat to national security. Speaking on a public forum, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow said the U.S. had given Huawei several warnings.

“We’ve warned them for quite some time of violating the Iranian sanctions. We have these sanctions on Iran, it runs against our policy, why shouldn’t we enforce that,” he said.

The Canadian Justice Department argued against granting Meng bail, claiming she has incentive to flee Canada. Her lawyer, on the other hand, said, “Meng would not embarrass her father by breaching a court order.”

Meng may be extradited to the U.S., a process that can take several weeks to months to complete. The United States Justice Department has 60 days to make the extradition request, which then must be approved by the Canadian court.

Meng's arrest was not revealed by Canadian authorities until Wednesday, the day of her first court appearance.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday that China had been assured that due process was being followed and Meng would have consular access while her case was before the courts.

"Canada is a rule-of-law country and we follow our procedures, our laws and our agreements," she told journalists during a press teleconference. "Due process has been, and will be, followed in Canada," she said.

Freeland reiterated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's claim that Meng's arrest had "no political involvement".

Aged 46, Meng joined Huawei as early as 1993, when she began a career at her father's company as a receptionist. After she graduated with a master's degree in accountancy from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1999, she joined the finance department of Huawei. She became the company's chief finance officer in 2011 and was promoted to vice-chairman a few months before her arrest.

Huawei is one of the largest telecommunications equipment and services providers in the world, recently passing Apple to become the second-biggest smartphone maker after Samsung.