San Francisco/Vancouver: Skycom Tech Co, a little known Hong Kong telecom equipment seller, was thrust into the global limelight on Friday when Canadian prosecutors said it played a central role in helping Huawei Technologies Co. evade US sanctions against Iran.
‘Huawei used an unofficial subsidiary named Skycom to transact business in Iran for Iranian telecommunication companies,’ Crown attorney John Gibb-Carsley alleged in a Vancouver courtroom.
The US alleges that Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, hid ties between Huawei and Skycom, according to Gibb-Carsley. Canada was presenting the case against Meng on behalf of the US, which wants to extradite her.
Meng was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 at the behest of US authorities and on Friday, she was charged with conspiracy to defraud banks.
Skycom was part of Huawei’s company in Iran that worked on a contract with mobile operator MTN Irancell Telecommunications Services Co, according to a former employee who asked not to be identified discussing the private matter. In the past, Huawei had sold telecom equipment to MTN Irancell, Bloomberg has reported. Skycom was dissolved last year, according to Hong Kong filings.
Skycom employees worked for Huawei, the US alleged. Meng was said to have been a director of Skycom at one point, Reuters reported in 2013. Another director of Skycom, Hu Mei, appeared to have a Huawei email address and was listed in that company’s employee directory, Reuters reported. Skycom tried to sell 1.3 million euros ($1.7 million) worth of Hewlett-Packard Co. computer gear in late 2010, according to Reuters.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed
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