Senior politicians urge HSBC to unfreeze accounts of Hong Kong activist Ted Hui
HSBC has drawn criticism from a group of senior politicians over its decision to freeze the bank account of Ted Hui, prominent pro-democracy activist based in Hong Kong.
A group consisting of more than 50 politicians, including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, have written to HSBC chairman Mark Tucker demanding he unfreeze the accounts of Hui and his family, according to The Times.
In their letter, seen by The Times, members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said it was “highly concerning” that the accounts of Hui’s family members are frozen, even though they are not subject to any charges.
They also warned that HSBC had “compromised clients’ assets and private property rights without regard to the law and due procedures”.
The letter also asked the bank to provide a “formal explanation” for its decision to freeze the accounts and urged it to publicly commit to “protecting the access to funds of individuals and their families subject to politically motivated charges issued by the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities.”
A spokeswoman for HSBC told the Times: “We are unable to comment on individual cases. Like every bank, we have to operate within the law and legal frameworks of all the countries in which we operate.
“When we get a specific legal instruction by police authorities in Hong Kong, or anywhere else, to freeze the accounts of somebody under formal investigation, we have no choice but to comply. Disobeying such an order would be a criminal offence.”
Hui, a former Hong Kong lawmaker, had said in December his local bank accounts appeared to have been frozen after he said he would seek exile in Britain to continue his pro-democratic activities.
At the time, Ted Hui wrote to HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn, asking him why his bank accounts and those of his family members had been suspended.
The bank said at the time that it was “required to comply with the law in every jurisdiction in which we operate”.
But Quinn took the highly unusual move to break his personal silence on the matter, saying last month: “I regret that HSBC is not able to operate your bank and credit card accounts.”
British lawmaker Chris Bryant had also told Quinn last month that HSBC was “aiding and abetting one of the biggest crackdowns on democracy in the world”, during a hearing over its freezing of Hong Kong democrats’ bank accounts.