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Hong Kong democrat Ted Hui confirms he will go into exile and not return from Denmark
by Tom GRUNDY (HKFP)
20:11, 3 December 2020
“I just finished my three-day visit to Denmark, I hereby announce that I am in exile, and quit the Hong Kong democratic party, leaving Hong Kong,” he said in a Facebook post.
Hong Kong democrat Ted Hui has confirmed he will not return to Hong Kong from Denmark. In a Facebook post on Thursday 3, the Democratic Party politician said he will go into exile and quit the party.
“I just finished my three-day visit to Denmark, I hereby announce that I am in exile, and quit the Hong Kong democratic party, leaving Hong Kong,” he said in a Facebook post on Thursday 3.
Hui’s immediate family members have also reportedly left the city, according to HK01.
“Since the implementation of the national security law, until my recent exit from the Legislative Council, I have been asking myself, what else can I do for Hong Kong?,” he wrote. “I have tried struggling, and hoped to fight on the streets like last year, no longer caring about criminal liability. I have also tried to stay at the dying council, and use my remaining position to deal with the tyranny.”
“Now that none of that can really achieve anything, all resistance I can do as a Hongkonger – and from my position – is to continue to speak up for Hong Kong, and let the world still hear Hong Kong people’s shouts in our struggle, fight for the freedom of speech that Hong Kong people deserve in the free air of the foreign land, and take back Hong Kong’s discourse from the regime. I will also fight with other comrades in exile, such as Nathan, and widen Hong Kong’s international battlefront”
Hui travelled to Copenhagen on Monday 30/11, reportedly to attend a parliamentary conference on climate change after receiving a letter of invitation from Danish politician Katarina Ammitzboell. However, a parliamentarian admitted the meetings were made up to secure his visit, which was officially set to end Friday 4 .
Hui is on bail and faces multiple charges connected to a protest last July 6 at Tuen Mun park.
The ex-lawmaker was also arrested on two separate occasions under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance last month for protesting against the pro-Beijing camp in the Legislative Council chamber.
The first arrest was in connection to chaotic scenes and scuffles between the two camps earlier in May while the second involved Hui splashing a foul-smelling substance in the chamber against the now-passed national anthem bill.
Reacting to the news of Hui’s exile, the Democratic Party’s James To paid tribute in a response to HKFP: “When one country two systems suddenly ends, Ted is one of many Hong Kong people who has to make a very painful decision for themselves and their families to leave our beloved place having been changed to a totalitarian regime.”
‘Could be jailed for life’
The Democratic Party confirmed Hui would move on to the UK in the near future.
In Thursday’s Facebook message, he pledged to fight on: “Now that none of that can really achieve anything, all resistance I can do as a Hongkonger – and from my position – is to continue to speak up for Hong Kong, and let the world still hear Hong Kong people’s cries for our struggle. I will fight for the freedom of speech that Hong Kong people deserve in the free air of a foreign land, and take back Hong Kong’s discourse from the regime. I will also fight with other comrades in exile, such as Nathan [Law], and widen Hong Kong’s international battlefront.”
Earlier on Thursday 3, he told Danish outlet B.T. that he was facing nine criminal charges in Hong Kong and could be jailed for decades or life, and may be immediately arrested if he returns: “I’m risking my life to talk about the human rights situation in Hong Kong,” he said. “My family’s been followed, been surveilled, there were people stalking them – my whole family feel it’s very threatening.”
Danish MP Katarina Ammitzboell told Citizen News that he may travel to the UK next.
Hui stepped down from the legislature with the rest of the democratic camp in mid-November in solidarity with four colleagues who had been disqualified following a decision by Beijing that allowed the government to oust lawmakers deemed to be “unpatriotic”.
Separately, HK01 and RTHK cited sources as saying that pro-democracy activist Baggio Leung had also left the city.
Additional reporting: Candice Chau & Kelly Ho.
‘Wanted’ exiled democrat Ted Hui claims ‘political revenge’ as Hong Kong police launch security law and laundering probe
by Candice CHAU (HKFP)
08:55, 7 December 2020
Hui said that he had regained partial access to his frozen HSBC account and moved funds to a “safer place.”
“Wanted” Hong Kong democrat Ted Hui has deemed the freezing of his and his family’s bank accounts “political revenge,” after the police launched an investigation into alleged money laundering and violations of the national security law.
“This is clearly the regime’s attempt to take political revenge via economic oppression, and to use collective punishment to oppress my family to persecute dissenting voices,” the self-exiled former pro-democracy lawmaker said on Facebook on Sunday 6 .
Hui told local media that his and his family’s bank accounts were frozen upon his arrival in the UK last Friday 4, following his announcement of his decision to go into exile the day before.
The police said in a Facebook post on Sunday 6 that Hui was now alleged to have misappropriated and processed money from a crowdfunding campaign using his family’s bank accounts, as well as colluding with foreign forces to harm national security.
The police said that around HK$850,000 were frozen. However, according to Hui, a couple million dollars worth of life savings were frozen in five HSBC, Hang Seng Bank and Bank of China accounts.
However, by Sunday 6 night, Hui said that he had regained partial access to his HSBC account, whilst the freeze on his family’s HSBC accounts had been removed. He said he was moving his funds to a “safer place.”
Hui started a crowdfunding campaign last year to fund legal fees for initiating the “Private Prosecution and Civil Injunction against Police Brutality” campaign. It raised over HK$3,500,000.
Hui said in the Facebook post that the money from the crowdfunding campaign had always been deposited in the law firm’s bank account, and an audit report had been made available. He added that the funds had no relationship to his, or his family’s, accounts.
Aside from freezing the accounts, the police said they would also order for Hui’s arrest, as well as investigation into the whereabouts of the funds in question.
‘Crushes the credibility of Hong Kong banks’
“The regime thought this could suppress dissidents, yet they don’t realise that this has directly hit the world’s confidence in Hong Kong’s banking and judicial systems, causing mutual destruction,” Hui’s post read.
“I think this incident is very serious, it shows that under the national security law, banks can freely freeze citizens’ assets because of political pressure. This severely crushes the credibility of Hong Kong banks and financial system, and violates the protection of private property provided by the Basic Law,” he added in a latter post.
Hui also called upon local and international financial regulatory bodies to investigate the incident and punish law enforcement officers and bank management officials that have abused their power.
When he left for Denmark last Monday 30, Hui was on bail and facing multiple charges connected to a protest last July 6 in Tuen Mun park.
The ex-Democratic Party legislator was also arrested on two separate occasions under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance last month for protesting against the pro-Beijing camp in the Legislative Council chamber. In all, Hui said he was facing nine legal cases.
HSBC re-freezes accounts belonging to family of exiled democrat Ted Hui amid Hong Kong police money laundering probe
by Rhoda KWAN (HKFP)
18:09, 7 December 2020
HSBC has once again frozen the personal bank accounts of self-exiled democrat Ted Hui, his wife and his parents at the request of the police after briefly unfreezing them late on Sunday 6 evening.
Police confirmed the move was made in the course of an investigation into around HK$850,000 alleged to have been embezzled through the personal accounts of Hui and his family members.
The police only ordered funds to be frozen in connection to the money laundering probe, Senior Superintendent Steve Li told the press on Monday: “We froze the accounts based on the movement of the funds, which is unrelated to whether they belong to his family members.”
He added that the investigation and the freezing of the funds was unrelated to Hui’s other charges and subsequent flight to Denmark last week.
Hui – who was on bail – said he was facing nine legal cases in Hong Kong. “This is unrelated to his absconding, but only to two situations: that the funds were related to money laundering or were proceeds from unlawful activities,” he told reporters. “It’s absolutely not related to his absconding, or to his family, but [to] the strong suspicion that funds were embezzled using his own or other people’s accounts.”
“We only focussed on the money we mentioned, not the three million dollars,” Senior Superintendent Steve Li said, dismissing Hui’s statements on Sunday 7 saying that around HK$3 million in life savings had been inaccessible over the weekend. Hui also said the money from his public crowdfunding campaign had been deposited in a lawyer’s account.
The police’s order to freeze the accounts follows an announcement on Sunday that Hui was suspected of both embezzling funds from a public crowd-funding campaign and colluding with foreign forces — an offence under the national security law.
On the matter of potential security law charges against Hui, Senior Superintendent Steve Li said that the democrat’s actions abroad are likely to have breached the security law.
“Since [Hui] left Hong Kong, his writing made on social media is sufficient evidence for crimes against national security,” he said. “For example, when he said he would liaise or seek help with other places to take some actions, to expand the ‘international front’ with others, which is... to seek sanctions.”
Hui and his family’s bank accounts were frozen over the weekend after his announcement to go into exile. Hui briefly gained partial access to his HSBC accounts while his family regained full access to their funds late on Sunday 7 evening. He said funds had been moved to somewhere safe.
‘Distorted’
HSBC told the press in a statement on Monday 7 that it was “extremely disappointed” that the facts of the case had been “distorted,” while declining to comment on individual cases.
Hui later hit back at the bank’s comments in a post on Facebook, calling on the British multinational to clarify its comments and be transparent:
“HSBC said they won’t comment on individual cases, but then pointed out that some facts were distorted. I solemnly request HSBC to give a straight answer and clarify what facts have been distorted, as well as make the incident fully public to set the record straight,” he wrote.
The former Democratic Party lawmaker also said his family members held records showing they could not use their accounts, and their savings showed a zero balance over the weekend, despite the banks’ claim that they had only limited “some banking functions.”
Hui added that HSBC’s actions threatened to undermine public trust in the bank both locally and internationally: “Credibility and reputation are the most important assets in running a bank. This is an extremely serious incident, affecting not only me and my family’s assets, but also the confidence of HSBC customers in Hong Kong and the world.”
“Under the national security law, how many sacrifices are the banking and business industries willing to make to serve the regime?” Hui wrote, referring to the local government and Beijing.
During a legislative session earlier on Monday 7, Secretary for Finance Paul Chan had side-stepped suggestions that the freezing of bank accounts would risk undermining Hong Kong’s role as a financial centre, saying that Hong Kong’s financial systems remain “robust” despite pandemic and political obstacles.
“Last year we had various disturbances and this year we have Covid-19, and there’s also sanctions from the US,” the secretary said in response to a question from lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai. “For over a year we’ve faced severe challenges but our system remains robust.”
Hui and his family also have accounts with Hang Seng and the Bank of China, which were also reportedly frozen over the weekend. His family is believed to have joined him in the UK after he fled to Denmark last week.
HKFP has reached out to HSBC and the police for comment.
Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam rebuffs complaints of ‘political revenge’ by exiled democrat Ted Hui after bank accounts frozen
by Kelly HO (HKFP)
23:35, 8 December 2020
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday 8 rejected complaints by self-exiled democrat Ted Hui that the freezing of his bank accounts was an act of political revenge which would tarnish the city’s banking system.
The former opposition lawmaker, who was facing nine criminal charges in Hong Kong, announced last Thursday 3 during a visit to Denmark that he would quit the Democratic Party and go into exile in Britain. Hui told Danish media he could be jailed for decades or even life if he stayed in his home city.
Without naming Hui, Carrie Lam at a press conference challenged the credibility of the “absconder.” She said the public should be “extremely careful” about whether to trust the words of an individual who told lies to the courts in order to get permission to leave the city while on bail.
“So I ask this question – is this individual a trustworthy individual? That you should take his words on face value and accuse Hong Kong financial institutions of doing things which are not in accordance with the law?” Carrie Lam asked.
On Monday 7, HSBC re-froze the personal accounts of Hui and his family members at the request of the Hong Kong police, who said the move was related to a money laundering probe regarding Hui’s crowd-funding drive. Police said they suspected HK$850,000 had been embezzled through the accounts of Hui and other people.
Police said on Sunday 6 they were also investigating Hui for allegedly colluding with foreign forces, an offence under the Beijing-imposed national security law which is punishable by up to life imprisonment.
In response, the ex-lawmaker published audits linked to the crowd-funding campaign and said the money it received was never transferred to other accounts. He said the action taken by the force was “political revenge.”
“[I] think the police handling of the matter was not serious. They gave up on the reputation of the entire banking system for [the sake of] suppressing a lawmaker in exile,” Hui wrote on Facebook.
Carrie Lam said that if there was any damage to Hong Kong’s financial institutions, “the culprit is this individual.” She said police would fully investigate the case while the Department of Justice would independently consider whether to launch a prosecution. The government was operating in accordance with regulations but authorities could not reveal too many details of the investigation at the moment to avoid jeopardising the case, she said.
Asked whether the authorities were targeting democratic figures, after police rounded up 16 people linked to a peaceful university campus demonstration or a July 1 protest, Lam said she would not comment on the arrests.
But she added: “As long as these people are called ‘pro-democracy activists, in their eyes [western governments] they seem to have a shield and law enforcement agencies cannot touch them. This is not the spirit of a rule of law society.”
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