Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has been named rotating chairwoman of the company – six months after US prosecutors dropped charges of fraud that led to her detainment in Canada for three years.
The new position was confirmed on the Chinese’s mobile giant’s website and she will continue with her present duties as CFO.
The role of rotating chairperson is a shared one, with each holder of the position taking it in turns to lead the board and serve as acting chairperson.
Meng Wanzhou CFO
This means at some point in the future, Meng will serve a term as acting chairwoman of the company and as head of the board of directors.
That role is currently performed by Ken Hu, whose term began on April 1 and will end on September 30, 2022.
Meng was arrested in Canada in December 2018 while transferring through the country and remained there on bail for three years whilst fighting extradition to the US. American authorities alleged Meng aided Huawei to avoid sanctions on doing business in Iran, putting multinational banking organisations at risk of breaking those sanctions too.
Both she and Huawei denied the allegations, with suggestions that the accusations were politically motivated. However, prior to a final extradition hearing in British Columbia, the charges were dropped and Meng was able to leave Canada and return to China in September 2021.
Huawei recently presented its first financial results since Meng returned to the company, revealing record profits in 2021 but a significant decline in revenues as the impact of US sanctions and other geopolitical developments continue to influence the company’s fortunes.
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