Poland arrests Huawei employee over spying allegations

Aly Song | Reuters

A man walking past a Huawei P20 smartphone advertisement is reflected in a glass door in front of a Huawei logo, at a shopping mall in Shanghai, China December 6, 2018. 

Poland’s counterintelligence agency has arrested an employee of Chinese tech giant Huawei over spying allegations.

According to Polish TV broadcaster Telewizja Polska, Huawei’s sales director and an ex-security agent were arrested on Tuesday by officers of the country’s Internal Security Agency, charged with espionage.

The Huawei employee is reportedly a Chinese national, while the former security agent is a Polish national who recently worked for Orange Polska.

Huawei and French telecommunications firm Orange’s offices were searched and documents seized by the Internal Security Agency, the broadcaster reported.

A spokesperson for Huawei said the company, which overtook Apple as the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer last year, is aware of the situation.

“Huawei is aware of the situation, and we are looking into it,” the spokesperson said.” “We have no comment for the time being.”

The spokesperson added: “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.”

Orange and Poland’s Internal Security Agency were not immediately available for comment.