Huawei’s chairman says company is in the dark amid reports US is seeking CFO’s extradition

Huawei has not had any contact with authorities about the extradition of the company’s finance chief from Canada to the U.S., the Chinese firm’s chairman said on Tuesday.

Canada’s ambassador to the United States, David MacNaughton, told the Globe and Mail, that the U.S. will request the extradition of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou.

But Liang Hua said the company is not aware of any request and has no details on the case.

“We are aware of the situation in question and we are following closely on this issue but we do not have direct communication with the authorities,” Liang told a group of reporters during a roundtable at Davos.

“We will follow closely this event and we hope for a quick conclusion for Ms Meng, so Ms Meng can have her personal freedom.”

Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Canada in December. The authorities alleged that Meng was involved in the violation of U.S. sanctions.

The arrest heightened tensions between the U.S. and China amid the ongoing trade war. On Tuesday, Beijing said that the United States and Canada had abused their extradition agreement in relation to Meng.

Huawei has been on a public relations blitz in recent days, even putting its mysterious founder Ren in front of international media, amid continued negative headlines. Ren addressed concerns raised by the U.S. government, which has warned that the company’s equipment could allow the Chinese government to have a backdoor into a nation’s telecommunications network.

“When it comes to cybersecurity and privacy protection we are committed to be sided with our customers. We will never harm any nation or any individual,” Ren said last week.

Source: CNBC