Former congressman ended lobbying ties with ZTE

Published on August 16, 2012 by connie | This story has been viewed 557 views

Shenzhen, China- Former U.S. congressman, Jon Christensen, terminated its lobbying ties with ZTE Corporation, the second largest telecommunication equipment provider in China on July 13 after reports that FBI is making criminal investigation over ZTE for allegedly sales of banned telecommunication equipments to Iran. ZTE was also accused to have the attempt to cover up what it had done to disturb U.S. Commerce Department’s investigation.

The departure of Jon Christensen, who served in U.S. congress in 1990s, from ZTE was firstly reported by Politico, which was later confirmed when he filed a termination report to U.S. lobbying disclosure database saying that he terminated the cooperation.

According to the report of Reuters before this, the FBI has accused ZTE for allegedly selling Iran’s largest telecommunication company the surveillance systems that are capable of monitoring landline, mobile and internet communications. Later U.S. Commerce Department issued subpoena to ZTE.

ZTE’s general legal council in Texas, Ashley Kyle Yablon, told FBI agents that ZTE had discussed the details relating to this subpoena. He also said ZTE has subsidiaries focusing on monitoring and safety technologies, through which ZTE sells telecommunication equipments to Iran to avoid restrictions.

ZTE’s official website said ZTE sells telecommunication equipments to over 140 countries and reported revenue of 10.6 billion dollars in 2010.“ZTE does not comment on personal matters”, said Anna Hughes of ZTE’s Public Relations.

Shenzhen Post Elaine contributes to the story.

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