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HONG KONG: Hong Kong police said on Monday (December 7) that they had asked banks to freeze Ted Hui’s accounts because they suspected money laundering by the former legislator, who fled to Britain after facing criminal charges. related to anti-government protests last year.
Steve Li, chief superintendent of the police Department of Homeland Security, told a news conference that authorities sought help from banks, which he declined to name, to freeze funds related to a crowdfunding operation linked to Hui.
“We found that there was around HK $ 850,000 … being pocketed by him (Hui) and through some of the accounts owned by him and his relatives,” Li said, adding that the frozen money did not represent the total. of funds held by Hui and his family.
LEE: Former Hong Kong legislator Ted Hui says his bank accounts are frozen
Hui was one of several opposition lawmakers who resigned from the Legislative Council last month in protest at the firing of four colleagues in what they called another push by Beijing to clamp down on democracy in the city.
He said on Sunday that the funds raised from a crowdfunding that started last year to finance a private prosecution against the police had been deposited into an attorney’s account and had nothing to do with him or his family.
The veteran activist said his wife, parents and his own Hong Kong bank accounts had been frozen after he left to continue his pro-democracy activities abroad.
Li said the order to freeze the accounts was not related to Hui’s flight from Hong Kong or the charges he faces in connection with the anti-government protests in 2019.
However, the comments Hui made on social media after leaving Hong Kong violated his National Security Law for collusion with foreign powers, Li said.
Hui has urged Hong Kong and international financial regulators to investigate his case.
The veteran activist told Reuters via social media on Sunday that bank accounts belonging to him, his wife and his parents at Bank of China Hong Kong, HSBC and Hang Seng Bank were frozen. He did not elaborate.
“COMPLETE DISTRUST”
Later Sunday, Hui said on his Facebook page that his wife and parents’ bank accounts, along with part of their accounts, had briefly been unfrozen and that his family had moved funds quickly from HSBC because they no longer trusted him. global bank.
“Due to the total mistrust of HSBC in Hong Kong, my family has immediately transferred their savings to some safe places,” Hui said.
HSBC said it was disappointed to see that the circumstances were “misrepresented,” but did not elaborate and said it could not comment on specific account activity.
“When banks learn of negative news in the market, they will improve due diligence on the relevant accounts as part of their responsibility,” an HSBC spokeswoman said in an email.
“We have to comply with the laws of the jurisdiction in which we operate,” he said.
HSBC has been caught in the crosshairs of protests in the former British colony, its largest market, with its branches vandalized during some rallies.
Some protesters have accused HSBC of being an accessory to the authorities’ actions against activists, accusations the bank has denied.
A Hang Seng Bank spokesman said it did not comment on the details of the individual accounts. The Bank of China did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
READ: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for 13 and a half months for 2019 anti-government protest
Democracy activists say conditions have worsened in the former British colony after China imposed security legislation on the financial center in June, making anything that Beijing considers subversion, secession, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces to be punishable by up to life imprisonment.
China, which promises Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy under its handover deal with Britain in 1997, denies restricting rights and freedoms in the city.
Local media reported that at least five accounts worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars belonging to Hui and his family had been inaccessible since Saturday.
Hui contacted the banks and was told there were “comments” on his accounts, but the staff declined to provide further information, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported.
Hui, one of the pro-democracy activists arrested last month and accused of disrupting legislative procedures, arrived in Copenhagen last week at the invitation of Danish lawmakers.
The Hong Kong Security Office issued a statement on Friday that, although it did not name Hui, said that “fleeing by jumping bail and using various excuses such as so-called ‘exile’ to avoid one’s responsibility is a shameful act of recoil, hypocritical and cowardly. ” .
