The US Department of Justice has filed a series of criminal charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei, two of its subsidiaries and top executive Meng Wanzhou, who are accused of misleading banks about the company’s business and violating US sanctions against Iran.
The company is also charged in a separate indictment with stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile, US federal prosecutors said on Monday.
The two cases are likely to ratchet up tensions between the United States and China, which are already embroiled in a bitter trade war.
The US fully reimposed sanctions against Iran last year after President Donald Trump announced Washington’s withdrawal from a multinational nuclear deal, saying it was not firm enough to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
In a statement on Tuesday, Huawei denied the charges against it, adding it had asked to discuss the investigation with US prosecutors following Meng’s arrest, but that request was rejected.
The company said it is “not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms Meng, and believes the US courts will ultimately reach the same conclusion”.
Meng, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of the company’s founder, has also denied any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry decried the “political manipulations” behind the US government’s case against Huawei.
Article is published on Al Jazeera.
