Self-help group launched to aid HK business victims on mainland

A self-help group has been formed to assist Hong Kong businessmen who say they have been mistreated and lost their investments on the mainland.

The Concern Group on Investment Rights and Interests of Hong Kong Businessmen on the mainland said the move was triggered by a lack of help from the Hong Kong government, which it said just referred complaint letters to the mainland authorities, instead of 'reflecting' problems to the central government.

The group, which will organise sit-ins and protests outside Hong Kong government offices along with trips to Beijing for talks with central government officials, feared that if the government refused to step in, more Hong Kong entrepreneurs would become victims.

Ho Hei-wah, director of the Society for Community Organisation who helped set up the group, said the post-handover government was to blame for the rapid increase in complaints.

'The Hong Kong government did nothing to help them ... [The government] just referred their complaint letters to the [relevant] mainland department and played the role of a postman,' he said.

Mr Ho has received several dozen such cases in the past few years.