HSBC Ordered To Freeze Hui Family's Accounts Again

Police have ordered HSBC to once again freeze accounts belonging to the wife and parents of former pro-democracy legislator Ted Hui, sources say.

Hui, who has fled to Britain, said at the weekend that a number of accounts belonging to the family containing several million dollars had been frozen, but they were later able to access some of the funds once again.

He said the family had immediately transferred their savings to "safe places" because they no longer trusted HSBC.

But sources told RTHK that on Monday police ordered that HSBC accounts belonging to Hui's wife and parents be frozen once again as they investigate the former lawmaker on suspicion of "money laundering" and the national security offence of "colluding with foreign forces".

The force said earlier that Hui is a fugitive and it is looking into whether he embezzled funds he raised through crowd-funding for private prosecutions relating to last year's anti-government protests. Hui said the money collected was kept in a bank account belonging to a law firm.

In a statement earlier in the day, HSBC said it was disappointed to see the circumstances regarding the matter had been "misrepresented," but did not elaborate.

"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... We have to abide by the laws of the jurisdiction in which we operate."

Last Thursday, Hui announced during a trip to Denmark that he was going into exile in the UK.

He was facing multiple prosecutions in Hong Kong in relation to protests, and said that just by talking to Danish politicians about the human rights situation in the SAR he had run the risk of being accused of breaching the national security law.