A former Huawei Canada CEO claims to have been an informant for the Canadian Secret Service.
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Pierre Bisonetti, who was the general manager of Huawei Canada from 2010 to 2018, revealed, “The Canadian intelligence services, I had a close relationship with them, we met regularly.”
He said his meetings with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) would have started “around 2013-2015”. This indicates that CSIS, whose role is to investigate what threatens national security, was concerned about the Chinese giant long before the current debate about Huawei’s presence in 5G.
Mr. Bisonnet asserts that his meetings took place without the knowledge of his Huawei bosses, and that the meetings were always held “at the same seat at the Baton Rouge restaurant” in downtown Montreal.
The officer asked him to “report anything he deems suspicious.” This is what he wanted to know. ”
Pierre Bissonnette asserts, however, that he never witnessed illegal practices during his tenure.
I am Canadian first and foremost and my country’s security is important to me. If I saw something suspicious, yes I would definitely have disclosed it. ”
CSIS and Huawei declined to comment on its allegations.
We also learned that the Communications Security Corporation (CST) was consulted by Huawei Canada when the Chinese giant was looking to hire a key employee in 2013.
CSE is the federal agency that protects the nation’s telecommunications systems. This organization in particular guarantees that Huawei equipment does not contain spy tools.
In 2013, Huawei Canada contacted Karl Bond, a former military man who had worked for 14 years at CSE, to offer him the position of Chief Security Officer.
“ People from Huawei have already talked to people about security [au gouvernement] To see if they consider me an acceptable candidate, ”says Karl Bond.
He himself called his former CST colleagues to get his checks done.
They said: We would like to have someone we know and trust [dont] We know it’s fair. If you want to go, go hard. ”
Karl Bond accepted the position, where he remained until 2016.
A Federal Agency spokesperson confirms via email: “CST does not hire employees for anyone other than CST.” “As a general rule, CSE does not encourage its employees to pursue work in certain companies in the private sector and does not agree to an arrangement for an employee to obtain a job in certain companies in the private sector.”
Huawei declined to comment on Carl Bond’s allegations.
According to Karl Bond, it was only natural for Huawei to consult CST. The main role of Huawei Canada Chief Security Officer is to work with CSE to inspect the equipment.
This program has been classified as classified software, and anyone working on it, including Huawei Canada, should have the necessary security codes.
The former military says it was not an informant for CSE or CSIS. But he says that if he had “seen things that were questionable,” he would have said so.