INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesHuawei is facing backlash after a former employee was wrongfully detained for eight months in China
Li Hongyuan, who worked for Huawei for 13 years, was arrested over charges of extortion in January, after the company accused him of
But prosecutors freed Mr Hongyuan in August, after finding insufficient evidence to back Huawei's claim.And the government has awarded him
107,522 yuan (£11,686) in compensation for being wrongfully jailed
Before leaving Huawei, in March 2018, Mr Hongyuan says, he negotiated an exit package
Two months later, a Huawei employee deposited 304,742 yuan (£32,951) into Mr Hongyuan's personal bank account, which Mr Hongyuan told
Chinese media outlets had been an end-of-year bonus he had been promised
Huawei then reported him to the police, who claimed the money transfer had been made in response to his alleged attempt to extort money from
Mr Hongyuan was taken into custody in December 2018 and formally arrested in January
Following his release after 251 days in custody, Mr Hongyuan's defence team told CNN their client had never been prosecuted and had instead
been awarded government compensation
In a statement to TheIndianSubcontinent News, Huawei said it respected the judgement that had been made, while maintaining it had had a
"duty" to report its findings to authorities
"We respect the independence and authority of the criminal justice process to examine and make a lawful, correct judgement," said the
telecoms giant."If any one person believes they have suffered damages or had their legal rights infringed, then Huawei fully supports their
right to seek satisfaction through the courts."The case has caused widespread outrage in China, with Mr Hongyuan receiving an outpouring of
support from users on social network Weibo
In an open letter addressed to the Huawei founder, Ren Zhengfei, the former employee apologised for causing a scandal
He wrote: "It wasn't my intention to cause so much attention online and I am sorry about it
"Also, I don't regret my choice for speaking the truth
There is always a cost to being honest."
