Freezing Ted Hui's Money A Responsible Move: Police

Police said on Monday that freezing the bank accounts of Ted Hui and his family was the "responsible thing" to do after the former Democratic Party lawmaker "absconded".

The force says it is looking into whether Hui embezzled around HK$850,000 collected through crowd-funding for private prosecutions, including a case against a police officer who shot a student in the abdomen during last year's protests.

Senior superintendent Steve Li from the force's national security department told the media that some of the money could have been transferred to the bank accounts of Hui's relatives and this is why they too had to be frozen.

Li said the assets freeze was prompted by the former lawmaker's announcement that he was going into exile.

"To be honest, if there is no risk of absconding, we could carry on with the investigation. But since he has absconded, as responsible law-enforcement officers, we should preserve these situations as soon as possible for the purpose of future prosecutions," Li said.

The senior superintendent, who was recently hit with US sanctions, also said that comments Hui posted on social media in recent days could violate the national security law in relation to "collusion with foreign forces".

"I can be more precise. He had said he would contact some places, or ask other foreign places to continue with some actions. Or, he said he would work with others to expand the international front, which in their language represented sanctions," Li said.

Hui announced last week during a trip to Denmark that he would not be returning to Hong Kong where he was facing prosecution in relation to various protests. From Denmark, he travelled on to the UK.