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Published 14:59 IST, January 13th 2019

Huawei sacked employee arrested in Poland on suspicion of spying for China

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei sacked an employee after he was arrested in Poland on suspicion of spying for China. Poland's counterintelligence service confirmed the arrest of a Chinese citizen working in Poland on suspicion of spying.

Reported by: Tech Desk
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Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei sacked an employee after he was arrested in Poland on suspicion of spying for China. Poland's counterintelligence service confirmed the arrest of a Chinese citizen working in Poland on suspicion of spying. Polish state-owned media identified the suspect as Huawei's sales director in Poland. The Chinese embassy in Poland named the arrested suspect as Weijing Wang.

According to Polish counterintelligence, the homes of the suspects were searched and a court has ordered the suspects to be held for three months. If convicted, they may face up to 10 years imprisonment. According to a news channel, none of the suspects pleaded guilty.

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Also Read | Calls for Huawei boycott get mixed response in Europe

Huawei confirmed in a statement that it fired Wang for bringing the company "into disrepute." Huawei said Wang's "alleged actions have no relation to the company."

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"Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates, and we require every employee to abide by the laws and regulations in the countries where they are based," the company added.

Also Read | Huawei punished two employees for tweeting from an iPhone: Report

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Globally, Huawei has come under massive scrutiny. The company has been facing a lot of trouble in the US ever since six of the country's top intelligence officials including that of CIA, NSA and FBI expressed their distrust of Huawei and ZTE over concerns related to national security. In countries like Australia and New Zealand, Huawei has been prevented from supplying its next-gen 5G equipment.

Last month, Canadian authorities arrested the chief financial officer (CFO) of China's Huawei for extradition to the United States.

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Earlier this month, Huawei reportedly fined two employees for tweeting from Huawei’s official account using an iPhone.

14:59 IST, January 13th 2019