China can’t be trusted with ‘sensitive’ evidence in Huawei prosecution, U.S. says
U.S. lawyers prosecuting Huawei Technologies Co. for alleged
Iran sanctions violations said the company shouldn’t be allowed to share more
than 21,000 pages of “sensitive” evidence in the People’s Republic of China
because it could be “misused.”
Prosecutors have classified the documents as “sensitive
discovery material” that can’t be shown to anyone beyond a group of U.S.
defense lawyers and argue the material must remain in the country. China “has
shown a willingness to take actions that appear designed to defend Huawei from
allegations in this case,” according to prosecutors in the office of U.S.
Attorney Richard Donoghue in Brooklyn, New York.
Huawei, one of the world’s largest makers of smartphones and
networking equipment, and Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou have been
fighting charges filed in 2019 that they evaded U.S. sanctions on Iran and lied
to U.S. authorities. Prosecutors in February unveiled a revised indictment that
added racketeering charges tied to allegations the company conspired to steal
intellectual property from half a dozen U.S. firms.
The company and lawyers for Meng, who is in Vancouver
fighting extradition to the U.S., deny wrongdoing.
Prosecutors warned that if the information is released
outside the U.S., it “could fall into the wrong hands.” They cited a recent New
York Times report that five former Huawei employees were jailed by Chinese
authorities after they engaged in a WeChat conversation in which one said he
could “prove Huawei sold [equipment] in Iran.”
“If true, the allegations in this news article indicate that
the People’s Republic of China government may take actions to intervene on
behalf of Huawei in the context of this criminal case,” they said in a letter
filed late Monday.
The U.S. says it has already shared more than five million
pages of evidence with Huawei’s American defense lawyers and that only about
12% of them were designated as sensitive discovery material.
Huawei says it needs to show the material to people in China
to help defend itself against the charges, saying the prohibition on sharing
the documents “severely handicaps” it in preparing its defense.
A 2012 report by the House Intelligence Committee warned
that Huawei seeks to “control the market for sensitive equipment and infrastructure
that could be used for spying and other malicious purposes” and that it was
“unwilling to explain its relationship with the Chinese government.” More
recently, President Donald Trump has made Huawei a target.
The company says the U.S. has vilified it for political
purposes.
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