Ted Hui had secret funds transferred overseas while fleeing Hong Kong

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Renegade lawyer and fugitive from Hong Kong justice, Ted Hui Chi-fung, who had his Hong Kong assets confiscated this week by the Court of First Instance, has a secret stash overseas, according to interviews he had with foreign media.

On Monday (Feb.17) the court ordered the confiscation of assets worth about $800,000 from Hui after it was learned that he had already given $2.5 million in assets to his mother and wife before and after he absconded from Hong Kong in December 2020. Assets held by a law firm in Hong Kong have also been confiscated.

The Hong Kong Police Force confirmed to local media that Hui was suspected of embezzling crowdfunding money from his relatives' accounts and was being investigated for money laundering.

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review recently, Hui admitted that during a brief reprieve in the freezing of his accounts in 2020, he was able to get most of his money out before the freeze was reinstated. He made a similar statement to The Guardian saying he was able to transfer “the majority of funds” out of Hong Kong. Hui had at least five accounts at HSBC, Hang Seng Bank and Bank of China (Hong Kong) belonging to him and his family members. There are suggestions in some quarters that this transfer could be in the range of about $12 million.

As soon as the court order was made, Hui protested violently on his Facebook site that the ruling was absurd and was a violation of human rights.

The HKSAR Government reacted to clarify that: "Hong Kong is a society underpinned by the rule of law and has always adhered to the principle that laws must be obeyed, and lawbreakers be held accountable. Amongst others, it is a common and effective practice to make an application to the Court for a confiscation order to prevent offenders from benefiting from their criminal acts. In fact, laws and mechanisms for confiscation of crime proceeds are common around the world. They cover the crime proceeds from commission of any serious offence, including offences endangering national security."

Its statement noted that Hui had committed numerous heinous crimes, with a number of criminal charges being laid against him. He conspired with foreign politicians in 2020 to forge documents and deceive the court with false information in order to obtain the court's permission to leave Hong Kong while he was on bail, jumped bail and absconded overseas. Afterwards, he was suspected to have committed offences endangering national security overseas. On August 12, 2021, and June 21, 2023, two magistrates issued warrants against Hui for allegedly committed crimes of 'inciting secession', 'inciting subversion of state power', and 'colluding with foreign or external forces to endanger national security'. Hui is a wanted person with reward notice by the Police.

Police said Hui has advocated Taiwan independence, Hong Kong independence and the overthrow of China's basic system through social media.

"Between January 2021 and December 2022, Hui published posts on social media to request foreign countries to impose sanctions and engage in other hostile activities against the PRC and the Hong Kong SAR," a police warrant read.

The police also alleged Hui has colluded with foreign forces and is an advisory board member of anti-China groups Hong Kong Watch in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong Democracy Council in the United States. He lobbied Western politicians and officials to impose sanctions against the mainland and Hong Kong, police said.

Hui has always been troublesome. He first caught media attention for his protests in the Legislative Council. In 2014, he was ejected from a meeting of the council's working group on civic education when protesting the council's decision to grant HK$150,000 to pro-Beijing groups.

Hui was also considered to be quite radical within the Democratic Party when he opposed the party's meetings with Beijing officials. And, in April 2018, Hui was under police investigation for snatching a Security Bureau executive officer's phone and taking it to a Legislative Council Complex toilet on 24 April 2018. The Democratic Party suspended the lawmaker and criticized him for seriously tarnishing the reputation of lawmakers.
Hui disrupted the second reading of the National Anthem Bill in the Legislative Council by dropping a container containing rotten plant matter inside the chamber. A fellow lawmaker was taken to hospital after being exposed to the smell. Hui and two other lawmakers, Eddie Chu and Raymond Chan, were charged with hindering the business of the council and violating the Powers and Privileges Ordinance, with Hui having dropped the foul-smelling liquid during the LegCo session. Hui was subsequently fined HK$52,000.

When Hui decided to jump bail, he fled to Denmark with the help of political friends under the guise that he was attending an environmental meeting. From there he went to London and then to Australia, where his sister lives. He said that he would be practising full time at a law firm – RSA Law – in Adelaide, mainly focusing on civil and commercial cases, and would help Hongkongers who had applied for asylum in the country. Hui finished a law degree in Hong Kong but never practised.

He now lives in Adelaide, South Australia, where he passed integrity vetting despite having boasted that he faced a total of 23 charges in Hong Kong and had seven warrants out for his arrest, claiming his admission as a lawyer was a “slap on the face” for Hong Kong authorities. But then, again, Australia’s foundation is based on the importation of criminals.

Mark Pinkstone

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

When China’s Paramount Leader Deng Xiao Ping floated the idea of one country two systems for the future of Hong Kong, the west scoffed at the possibility of a communist regime and a capitalist bastion living hand in hand. Some 29 years later the prophets of doom were proven wrong as Hong Kong is now more prosperous than ever and it’s future will be more so.

For more than 150 years Hong Kong lived under a British colonial rule. There was no democracy, only authoritarian management. The succession of ruling governors were hand-picked by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and appointed by the Prime Minister, without any consultation with the people of Hong Kong.

But the people of Hong Kong didn’t mind. If they had never seen democracy, how could they miss it. The governors were diplomats and their upper-crust training ensured that the natives were happy and that their rice bowls were filled. The diplomats got on well with the Chinese government as they knew that harmony was the key component to a successful relationship.

Then came along a politician for the first time to run Hong Kong in the name of Chris Patten, who had lost his seat in the Bath electorate, about 156 km west of London. John Major was Prime Minister at the time and a good friend of Patten. So, to make up for the political loss in Bath, Major offered Patten the cushy job of being governor of Hong Kong.

In 1992 Patten and his family arrived in Hong Kong and as a typical politician, he arrived like a bull in a china shop (pun intended). There was no diplomacy involved. Patten and Major had decided that the foreign office diplomats were pussy-footing with the Chinese during the previous decade negotiating Hong Kong’s future and a firmer stand was necessary.

Unlike his predecessors, Patten knew nothing of Chinese traditions and customs. He just could not understand Chinese mentality and that applied not only to the mainlanders but also the local Chinese. The East is East and the West is West and never the twain shall meet wrote poet Rudyard Kipling in 1889. But, in Hong Kong they did.

The Joint Declaration between Great Britain and China on the future of Hong Kong and the subsequent Basic Law (Hong Kong’s mini constitution) provided the pathway for Hong Kong’s future, including democratic elections for the city’s legislative council. But Patten was impatient and decided to introduce a fully elected legislature in 1995 immediately before the handover in 1997. This infuriated the Chinese-side, and they provided for a provisional legislature to replace Patten’s council as soon as Hong Kong was reverted to Beijing’s administration.

After 1997, Hong Kong formed its first directly elected Legislative Council in 1998, while the Chief Executive is elected by an Election Committee — a system similar to the U.S. presidential election. Hong Kong's Election Committee now has 1,500 members, whereas the U.S. Electoral College has only 538 members.

Since then, Hong Kong has flourished. The prophets of doom and Kipling were wrong. Despite many attempts by the west to dismantle the Deng formula Hong Kong is one of the most successful places on the planet. Year after year it is breaking records to the envy of many. Hong Kong has secured third place in the Global Financial Centres Index. In the latest World Competitiveness Ranking, Hong Kong's position has risen one spot further to rank second globally. And in the World Talent Ranking, Hong Kong has moved up 10 places to rank the fourth globally and the first in Asia. Hong Kong also continues to come first as the world's freest economy. And Hong Kong has what many want – stability.

The Hong Kong formula is unique and successful. Never tried before, it was seen as an experiment and the world was watching, waiting for it to fail. But the Hong Kong people are resourceful and will take any challenge head on. There is no failure.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), established under the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Constitution, has maintained the previous capitalist system and way of life. Its common law system continues to operate, and it enjoys the free flow of people, capital, data, goods and more. The vibrancy and prosperity of the central government has always been Hong Kong's strongest backing.

Hong Kong’s 29th birthday under the PRC guidance, coincides with the 105th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China. Naturally there have been celebrations all round, and justifiably so. Both Hong Kong and the central government are proud of what they have achieved. And both, particularly in the past year have taken top ranking as the preferred place in the world to trust and to do business.

Chief Executive John Lee, at a celebratory function on July 1 summed it up with: “Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, will ride the wave of flourishing national development and sail with the wind, steering towards a brighter and more prosperous future!”

And the future is being mapped out in Hong Kong’s first five-year plan, currently under consultation with the public. The plan, a road map for future leaders to follow, will include a futuristic block of land, one third of Hong Kong’s total, to house high tech innovative research and development facilities with university, hospital and new town ancillary services. This Northern Metropolis straddles the river that acts as the boundary between Hong Kong and neighboring Shenzhen, with bridges linking the two; further proof that Hong Kong is an integral part of China.