Huawei Caught Moving Rp20 Trillion Five Days After Criminal Indictment
Chinese technology giant Huawei has been found to have transferred US$1.3 billion, or approximately Rp20 trillion, from accounts in London just five days after being officially indicted by the United as States government. The transaction was carried out suddenly over a weekend, bypassing standard financial oversight procedures, following direct orders from the bank’s headquarters in Beijing.
This was revealed through an investigation by international journalists published on Thursday (17/09/2026). According to secret documents reviewed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the incident occurred on 2 February 2019. Nine bank officials were called into work on a Saturday to complete the fund transfer within just a few hours.
Five days prior to the event, the US Department of Justice had filed official charges against Huawei. The company is accused of criminal fraud, violating international sanctions, and money laundering. Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, had also been arrested in Canada at the request of the United States.
Rather than awaiting clarification or temporarily freezing the funds, the London branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) processed the urgent request to withdraw Huawei’s entire deposit. Internal bank records noted concerns that Huawei was attempting to move assets to prevent them from being frozen by US authorities.
“There is a possibility that Huawei is attempting to move funds to avoid asset freezing by US sanctions investigators,” wrote an ICBC London anti-money laundering officer in an internal report. However, this warning was ignored, as the Beijing headquarters ordered that the transaction proceed.
ICBC is China’s largest state-owned bank. The documents reveal that Huawei is considered a “strategic client” receiving preferential treatment, where strict inspection rules are frequently bypassed under direction from Beijing. Compliance officers in London requested a delay in the transaction until the origin of the funds was clarified, but management refused. The transfer was conducted outside of official working hours without thorough scrutiny.
Subsequently, the bank even opened new accounts for Huawei in other countries to facilitate its financial movements. A financial observer stated that Chinese-owned banks operate under different rules compared to other international banks, noting that if forced to choose between following the regulations of the host country or orders from the Party in Beijing, Beijing prevails.
Nearly seven years after the incident, the trial against Huawei has just commenced in New York this week. Prosecutors claim that for decades, the company has operated through patterns of lies and deception, labelling Huawei a criminal organisation. The defence has rejected these allegations, stating the company’s success was achieved through hard work rather than crime.
Furthermore, it has been revealed that ICBC has provided loans exceeding US$2 billion for Huawei projects in various countries since 2003, including Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, and India. This financial support has enabled Huawei to offer network equipment at low prices globally, while simultaneously expanding China’s technological influence across multiple continents.
This implies that the clandestine transfer of billions of dollars was not merely a routine financial matter. It serves as tangible evidence of how state financial power can be utilised to protect strategic companies, even when they are facing legal proceedings in other nations.