China's ZTE presents its Axon 10 Pro 5G cellphone at Mobile World Congress (MWC 2019) in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 26, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE said it is not charged in a case involving an alleged conspiracy to commit a visa fraud, after some media reported that the Chinese firm has received a US federal court order, ZTE said in a statement sent to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday.

ZTE said it received a US court order on Thursday (US time), informing it to participate in a court hearing on probation violation of a visa fraud case on March 14. The case involves a former employee of ZTE's subsidiary, Yu Jianjun, who departed the company's US office many years ago and was charged in the fraud case.

In the statement, ZTE said its business operation is continuing as usual, and the company will take all practical moves in accordance with the law as the next step to settle the matter. 

According to a Reuters report, a former ZTE research director in New Jersey and a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology were charged with conspiring to bring Chinese nationals to the US using J-1 visas, which are designed for work and study at institutions like Georgia Tech.

After their arriving in the US, the Chinese nationals went to work for ZTE in New Jersey, Reuters reported, citing an indictment letter revealed last March. The professor, Gee-Kung Chang, has pleaded not guilty. The status of the ZTE research director, Jianjun Yu, is unclear.

The Chinese company estimated in February that its net profit in 2021 will hit a range between 6.5 billion yuan and 7.2 billion yuan, rising 52 percent to 69 percent over the previous year. 

Global Times