VANCOUVER—The endgame behind the arrest of top Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou may be to coerce her to uncover the true extent of the potential threat posed by tech giant Huawei, say former federal prosecutors and agents.

Meng, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the company’s founder, is currently on bail in Vancouver pending an extradition hearing. That hearing could see her sent to the U.S. to face criminal charges related to alleged violations of U.S. trade sanctions against Iran.

Both Huawei and Beijing have consistently denied charges from international security experts and agencies that the company’s cosiness with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) constitutes a security risk for countries adopting Huawei equipment into their 5G networks.

Learning the truth behind those fears is far more valuable for U.S. authorities than throwing Meng in jail, said Nick Akerman, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York and member of the Watergate prosecution team.

“I think their goal here is to really try to learn what (Meng’s) company has been doing and whether there really is this pervasive plot to steal trade secrets and confidential information from American companies. And whether or not the company is also being used to spy on behalf of the Chinese government,” Akerman, now a partner at Dorsey and Whitney in New York, told The Star by telephone.

“I think (the goal) is not just to put her behind bars, but it’s to give her a hefty sentence and then try to get her to co-operate.”

Read more:

Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou could get hearing date or go on offensive Wednesday

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou suing Canada, its border agency and the RCMP for ‘false imprisonment’

Huawei exec’s lawsuit likely aims to affect extradition proceedings, legal experts say

Meng’s arrest in December in Vancouver thrust Canada into the centre of an international debate over whether Huawei’s bid to become the beating heart of 5G networks across the globe could provide the CCP with a back door to access sensitive user data or manipulate critical infrastructure for resources such as water or energy.

5G technology is broadly viewed as the next major leap forward for connectivity, which would see an unprecedented number of devices and systems linked to the internet through new, ultrafast networks.

In a Feb. 15 speech at the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence clearly articulated his government’s view of China as a threat to national security, calling on America’s allies to “reject any enterprise that would compromise the integrity of our communications technology or our national security systems.” He named Huawei specifically as one of many Chinese telecom companies compelled by law “to provide Beijing’s vast security apparatus with access to any data that touches their network or equipment.”

But while information stemming from Meng’s co-operation could be a powerful tool in convincing U.S. allies, it would be a mistake to imagine that was the motivating force behind her arrest, said Jacob Frenkel, a former senior counsel in the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement and federal criminal prosecutor of corruption and financial crimes.

“The U.S. government, unlike in some countries, does not bring prosecutions for political purposes regardless of whether there is a political message that may attach,” Frenkel, now a member and chair of Government Investigations and Securities Enforcement with Dickinson Wright LLP, told The Star by telephone.

Little doubt remains that the decision to seek Meng’s extradition from Canada indicates the U.S. “wanted to send a compelling message through this indictment,” Frenkel continued.

Prosecutions of high-profile figures such as Meng — while objective from a judicial standpoint — also inherently perform a political function, insofar as they demonstrate a line beyond which certain behaviours will simply not be tolerated by a nation, he said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“And that clearly would be the case here,” he added. “Part of the message is that if U.S. authorities determine that there was a substantial violation of U.S. federal criminal law … then the U.S. will seek extradition potentially from any country with which it has an extradition treaty.”

According to a former assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Meng could shed light on a spectrum of national-security issues should she decide to co-operate with stateside prosecutors to avoid, for instance, jail time.

“There’s potential intelligence benefits from (her co-operation) and also other potential investigative, prosecutorial benefits — identifying other targets and illegal activities, that type of thing,” former FBI agent Joseph Campbell, now director of Navigant consulting, told The Star by telephone.

Because of Huawei’s power and prominence — and because of its ties to Beijing — Meng’s co-operation could illuminate questions including: how pervasively and to what end the Chinese government controls its country’s technology companies; plans for domestic and foreign policy applications of China’s technological development; other players supporting Iran in the contravention of sanctions; other states or organizations involved in supporting Beijing’s international goals; and a whole host of issues surrounding potential 5G threats, he said.

Hearing from Meng directly would also vindicate the “veracity of the investigation and the intelligence collected,” Campbell said, noting the entire criminal case against Meng and Huawei would have been painstakingly built over a long period of time with extraordinary care by the U.S. Department of Justice in concert with other authorities.

It will be important to watch the Trump administration’s response for clues about whether politics may play a role in the future of Meng’s prosecution, said a former federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. President Donald Trump has already inserted himself into Meng’s extradition case with the suggestion he might intervene in the face of a favourable outcome to U.S.-China trade negotiations.

The spectre of such a move raises the question of how committed the White House will be to Meng’s judicial process, said Joseph V. Moreno, the former federal prosecutor, now a partner with Wash., D.C.-based law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP.

“If it turns out, for whatever publicly stated reason, the White House intervenes and Ms. Meng is instead returned to China, it is likely her arrest was more of a warning shot to China than a serious effort to prosecute her,” he told The Star in an email.

Moreno added that the final resolution of Meng’s extradition case will force Canada’s hand.

“Canada will definitely have to choose a side here,” he said, noting that while Canadian courts commit an individual to extradition, it is an elected official — the minister of justice — who ultimately decides whether to grant the extradition request.

“Canada will have to make a decision on what to do with Ms. Meng, and that could be symbolic of a larger decision about whether or not they’re trying to remain neutral or more actively side with the United States in its larger prosecution of Huawei and China itself.”

Meng is set to appear in court in Vancouver on Wednesday to begin next steps in her extradition proceedings.

Read more about: