China detains former Canadian diplomat, possibly in retaliation for fraud arrest of exec
Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat living in China, has not been heard from for days, and officials in his home country say he has been detained—possibly in retaliation for the arrest of Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on fraud allegations.
Canadian authorities picked up Meng, chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies, on Dec. 1. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Meng, the 46-year-old daughter of Huawei’s founder, hid her company’s ties to Iranian businesses behind a subsidiary, Skycom, when doing business in the U.S. between 2009 and 2014, according to BBC News. While this enabled her to do an end run around sanctions, it put U.S. banks dealing with Huawei in danger of violating those sanctions.
Meng was released on C$10 million bail late Tuesday, BBC News reported. She must wear an electronic ankle bracelet and be under surveillance 24 hours per day, and is due back in court on February 6.
Kovrig works for a nongovernmental organization called International Crisis Group, which works to defuse and prevent conflict abroad. Though there’s a slight chance his work could be the reason for his detention, the odds are on a retaliation scheme, given that China has done such things in the past.
Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ny-news-china-canada-fraud-huawei-20181211-story.html