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(Add police statement)
HONG KONG, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted
Hui said on Sunday his local bank accounts appeared to have been
frozen after fled to Britain with his family to continue his
pro-democracy activities.
Hui told Reuters via social media WhatsApp that bank
accounts belonging to him, his wife and his parents at Bank of
China Hong Kong, HSBC and Hang Seng Bank were
frozen. He gave no further details.
Democracy activists say conditions have worsened in the
former British colony after China imposed security legislation
on the financial hub in June, making anything Beijing regards as
subversion, secession, terrorism or colluding with foreign
forces punishable by up to life in prison.
China, which promises Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy,
denies curbing rights and freedoms, but authorities in Hong Kong
and Beijing have moved swiftly to quash dissent after
anti-government protests erupted last year and engulfed the
city.
Local media reported that at least five accounts worth
hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars belonging to Hui and his
family had been inaccessible since Saturday.
Hui contacted the banks and was told there were "remarks"
placed on his accounts, but the staff refused to provide further
information, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.
"We do not comment on the details of individual accounts," a
Hang Seng Bank spokesman told Reuters by email. HSBC and Bank of
China did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hong Kong police said late on Sunday that they were
investigating a Hong Kong person, who had absconded overseas
with bank accounts being frozen, for suspected money laundering
and possible violation of the new national security law.
It was not immediately clear who police were referring to.
Hui said on Thursday he had fled Hong Kong after facing
criminal charges and would seek exile in Britain.
One of the pro-democracy activists arrested last month and
charged with disturbing legislature proceedings, Hui arrived in
Copenhagen last week on an invitation from Danish lawmakers.
Hong Kong's Security Bureau issued a statement on Friday
that, while not naming Hui, said "running away by jumping bail
and using various excuses such as so-called 'exile' to avoid
one's responsibility is a shameful, hypocritical and cowardly
act of recoil".
Hui was one of several opposition lawmakers who quit Hong
Kong's Legislative Council last month in protest at the
dismissal of four colleagues in what they called another push by
Beijing to suppress democracy in the city.
($1 = 7.7507 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Yanni Chow and Donny Kwok; Editing by William
Mallard and David Clarke)
