Police obtain search warrant for accounts belonging to former opposition lawmaker and family at three banks. Officers also investigating if he broke law during crowdfunding campaign last year.
Hong Kong police said on Sunday they were investigating whether fugitive former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung violated the national security law or laundered money with a crowdfunding campaign and had frozen HK$$850,000 (US$109,660) in accounts belonging to him and his family.
But hours later Hui said holds on his family accounts were taken off and his personal accounts also partially released, while also taking aim at the city’s most prominent lender.
“Due to the family’s complete distrust of HSBC in Hong Kong, we have immediately transferred the savings to a safe place,” he said in a Facebook post at about 10pm.
He condemned the banks involved for what he called succumbing to political pressure by arbitrarily freezing assets under the sweeping national security law.
Sources told the Post that police approached HSBC, Hang Seng Bank and Bank of China with search warrants and asked them to suspend certain services – including Hui’s personal HSBC account. A Hang Seng account belonged to a relative.
However, the parents’ account with HSBC was not involved in the inquiry and had been functioning throughout while Hui’s personal account indeed had certain functions frozen, according to the insiders.
An HSBC spokeswoman said the bank was disappointed over rumours the lender had suspended services to certain customers.
“While we are unable to comment on matters concerning specific account activity, we are disappointed to see the circumstances having been misrepresented,” she said. “To reiterate, when banks are made aware of negative news in the market, they will enhance due diligence on the relevant accounts as part of their responsibility.”
About two hours before Hui’s statement, police said the former Democratic Party legislator was suspected of embezzlement and using his family’s accounts to process the money involved.
“[The person] was also suspected of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security,” the force’s statement read, without naming Hui or specifying details.
It also confirmed they had frozen bank accounts totaling HK$850,000 and planned to track the source of the funds.
Hui had said all the money raised by his crowdfunding campaign – aimed at initiating a private prosecution against police – had been deposited in a law firm’s audited account rather than personal ones, and called the force’s move a “suppression of dissent”. The campaign raised as much as HK$3.5 million, he said.
Hui, who fled to Britain via Denmark last week, faces a raft of criminal charges connected to anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Earlier in the day, Commissioner of Police Chris Tang Ping-keung accused him of “lacking a conscience” by jumping bail and avoiding responsibility for his actions.
“Reasons like being suppressed are all excuses,” Tang told a Sunday television programme. “Many of those incited by [Hui] might face jail terms of four years because of rioting. But with his ‘beautiful’ excuses, he evaded his own responsibilities to face jail and absconded.
“Through crowdfunding, he collected a large sum of money before fleeing … He should feel sorry for himself, his family, and those aspiring young people who were incited by him to commit crimes. He should feel ashamed of himself.”
Hui, who resigned as a lawmaker last month, was granted bail and permission to attend what were billed as climate change meetings in Denmark while awaiting trial.
He announced on Thursday that he would go into exile after finishing his visit to the Scandinavian country.
In his Facebook post on Sunday evening, Hui accused Hong Kong authorities of “taking political revenge” by freezing his and his family’s bank accounts.
“The regime first thought they could suppress dissidents in this way, but it didn’t know that the move directly eroded the world’s confidence in Hong Kong’s banking and judicial system,” he said.
Hui said he had no plans to raise funds for himself despite the frozen money representing his “life savings”.
The HSBC spokeswoman said the bank could not comment on specific accounts, but it abided by the “laws of the jurisdiction in which we operate”.
“Further enquiries should be directed to law enforcement,” she said. “Generally speaking, when banks are made aware of negative news in the market, they will enhance due diligence on the relevant accounts as part of their responsibility.”
A Hang Seng Bank spokeswoman declined to comment on details of an individual account.
Hui told the Post on Saturday he had contacted the banks and been informed there were “remarks” placed on his accounts, but the staff refused to give any further information.
Among the nine charges levelled against Hui in Hong Kong are one count of being involved in an act intended to pervert the course of justice, two counts of obtaining access to a computer with dishonest intent, and criminal damage over a protest in Tuen Mun.
He is also accused of two offences under the Legco (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance – contempt and interference with the legislature’s officers – in relation to a tumultuous House Committee meeting on May 8.