Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam claims she has «piles of cash at home» because of restricted access to banking services caused by the U.S. sanctions.
«I just give you this comment – sitting in front of you is the chief executive of the Hong Kong SAR who has no banking services made available to her,» Lam said in a local television interview last Friday. «I’m using cash every day for all the things.»
Lam had previously admitted in August that she was already facing post-sanction inconveniences from restricted access to credit cards.
«I have piles of cash at home because the government is paying me cash for my salary because I don’t have a bank account.»
«I Don’t Want to Deter People from Serving»
Lam was named in August on a sanction list of 11 Hong Kong and mainland China officials over the imposition of the national security law. Since then, she has not been the only individual that has faced reported issues with local police chief Chris Tang Ping-keung also transferring a home mortgage from HSBC to Bank of China (Hong Kong).
But Lam hopes such events do not discourage workers from becoming civil servants.
«I don’t want, to sort, of deter people from serving in a public position because it’s very honorable in this set of circumstances to be so unjustifiably sanctioned by the U.S. government,» she explained. «It’s an honor.»
