Just as other countries decide whether or not

to use the Chinese technology companies'

equipment in their 5G networks, US prosecutors

have unveiled a fresh set of allegations against it.

They accuse the company not only of stealing technology

from their US rivals, but they say

that this pattern of wrongdoing was so endemic to its business

model that it actually constitutes

a criminal enterprise.

They have charged Huawei with racketeering

- essentially being an organised crime outfit

- and these charges carry very severe penalties if proven.

Huawei's assets could be seized, and its senior executives

could be thrown in jail.

The details of some of the new indictments are eye-opening.

They read like the pages of a spy thriller.

Let me read to you the details of one such incident.

In or about July 2004, says the DoJ,

at a trade show in Chicago, Illinois,

a Huawei employee was discovered in the middle of the night

after the show had closed for the day

in the booth of a rival technology company,

removing the cover from a networking device

and taking photographs of the circuitry inside.

This individual wore a badge listing his employer as Weihua,

Huawei spelt with its syllables reversed.

One of our readers, Thomaham, has asked a pertinent question

here.

That person has asked why it has taken

so long to bring these charges and why these companies aren't

being named.

Well, the victim companies aren't being officially

named, Thomaham, but the details of the cases

that vary closely with previous civil lawsuits brought

by companies, including AT&T and Motorola.

And as for why it's taken so long for the DoJ

to bring these charges, well, the DoJ

might say it takes a while to prosecute

cases of such magnitude and such complexity.

Huawei, however, has its own answer.

The company says that this is all part of a wider

push by the Trump administration against it,

which it says is being done for commercial reasons.

It denies any wrongdoing.

Well, Huawei may or may not be right about that,

but one thing is for sure.

Charges with the magnitude of racketeering

carry very severe penalties, and it

needs to take them seriously.