US authorities have revealed they spied on Huawei to gather information about the Chinese networking giant’s connections to sanctions-busting and bank fraud.

The evidence was obtained under the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and required classified handling.

The Government confirmed that Huawei information was obtained or derived from electronic surveillance and physical search, but gave no details.

Ironically, the US has been pressuring countries to drop Huawei from their mobile networks, claiming the equipment could be used by China for spying.

Huawei and its CFO, Meng Wanzhou, are accused of conspiring to defraud HSBC and other banks by mis-representing Huawei’s relationship with Skycom Tech, a suspected front company that operated in Iran.