The US State Dept should cancel this guy Citizenship.
May 20, 2013 1:12 pm
Todd had met Huawei officials, inquest hears
By Jeremy Grant in Singapore
A young US engineer whose death in Singapore has sparked a high-profile inquiry attended a meeting with senior officials from Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company, to discuss a possible project, his employer said on Monday.
Patrick Lo, deputy executive director of research at the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a Singapore government research agency, was testifying at a coroner’s inquiry into the death of the engineer, Shane Todd.
The 31-year-old American was working for IME on the development of gallium nitride (GaN), a substance with commercial and military uses ranging from light-emitting displays and mobile phone base stations to radar and satellite communications.
According to written testimony submitted to the inquiry by Mr Lo, IME and Huawei began discussing a GaN collaboration in July 2011.
They ended their discussions in July 2012 after Huawei decided not to go ahead because they “didn’t want to have our technology,” Mr Lo told the inquiry on Monday.
Mr Lo said his agency had worked on four projects with Huawei, as well as the potential fifth project involving Todd.
The engineer was working full time on IME’s GaN team by July 2011, according to written testimony, and by August 2011 Todd had drawn up a proposal for IME to develop a “GaN amplifier” for Huawei for a S$1.8m fee.
Todd was involved in purchasing equipment used in GaN research and was sent by IME for related training in the US in January 2012, Mr Lo said in written testimony.
The US engineer was present at a meeting with “high management” at Huawei on April 19 the same year, Mr Lo told the inquiry. In written testimony, Mr Lo has said Todd was also present at a June 5 2012 meeting to discuss the project with Huawei. He was found dead in his apartment on June 24 2012, two days after he left his job at IME.
Mr Lo’s testimony to the inquiry has featured the most detailed information yet on the commercial relationship between IME and Huawei. Huawei has come under scrutiny in several countries due to alleged links with the Chinese military. It has denied any such links.
Mr Lo and other IME employees have all testified that IME does not conduct any classified military-related work and said that Todd was not involved in any such work at the agency.
The inquest, which entered its second week on Monday, is charged with establishing how Todd died – including whether he committed suicide or, as his family believes, was murdered.
Tai Wei Shyong, the state counsel, asked Mr Lo on Monday if Todd might have thought he had compromised US national security because of his work on the proposed Huawei project.
Mr Lo replied that, “if you allow me to speculate”, Huawei had been subject to some criticism by the US Congress and that “anything to do with Huawei could become questionable” for some people.
The inquest on Monday also heard that another IME employee last month had secretly taped a meeting during which Mr Lo told other employees who were expected to testify at the inquiry that the Huawei project should not be discussed publicly.
Mr Lo defended his instructions to other IME staff, saying they were related to a confidentiality agreement IME had signed with Huawei.
Huawei subsequently gave permission to IME to testify about the project, he said.
“If Huawei had not given permission I would have been very hesitant,” Mr Lo said.
Mr Tai asked: “Doesn’t your obligation to tell the truth override customer confidentiality.”
Mr Lo said: “I frankly tell you, I do not know.”