A former opposition lawmaker turned exiled dissident had bank accounts belonging to him and his family frozen over alleged political pressure.
The bank accounts of Ted Hui Chi-fung and several of his family members were reportedly frozen after he reportedly went on self-exile. Hui was on bail over nine charges before he was given permission to fly to Denmark for meetings to secure an exit from Hong Kong. He is currently believed to be in the U.K. where his family will look to resettle.
The Hong Kong police issued a statement on Sunday confirming that they were behind the freezing of HK$$850,000 (US$109,660) in accounts belonging to Hui and his family, which were supposedly his «life savings».
According to the statement, this was due to an investigation of potential national security law or money laundering violations from a crowdfunding campaign where he separately raised up to HK$3.5 million (US$448,700) to help fight five court cases, including a private prosecution of police over a shooting case during the social unrest.
HSBC... Again
HSBC is once again in the political spotlight as one of the three banks – alongside Hang Seng and Bank of China – to have frozen the accounts.
«Further inquiries should be directed to law enforcement,» said an HSBC spokesperson who underlined that the bank was disappointed about the news and that it complies with the laws of the relevant jurisdiction. «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.»
This is not the first time that HSBC has been under fire for making decisions perceived to be politically motivated. In August this year, the personal account of media mogul Jimmy Lai was frozen and in November 2019, the same happened to corporate accounts used to reportedly raise funds and cover the expenses of pro-democracy efforts across legal, medical and food.
«Political Revenge»
In a social media post, Hui accused Hong Kong authorities of «taking political revenge» by freezing his and his family’s bank accounts, adding that this will act as another hit to the reputation of the city’s hub status.
«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.
«Complete Distrust of HSBC»
Hours after the Hong Kong police issued the statement, Hui claimed that his family accounts were unfrozen while his own was partially unfrozen. He singled out HSBC over the freezes claiming that the family immediately transferred their savings elsewhere due to «complete distrust» of the British lender.
«I call on local and international financial regulatory agencies in Hong Kong to conduct thorough investigations into the incident and severely punish law enforcement officers and bank managers who abuse their power,» he added.
Hui is a former lawmaker who resigned last month, alongside 14 other opposition members, after a Beijing resolution led to the ousting of four colleagues. He joins a growing number of activists who have left Hong Kong over national security law concerns, including Nathan Law Kwun-chung went on self-exile in London days after legislation by Beijing.
