Hong Kong woman targeted in spying row faces civil suit over theft of HK$164 million from ex-employers
- Media have reported Monica Kwong is alleged target of break-in at UK home as part of spying case linked to Hong Kong’s trade outpost in London
- Kwong failed to appear at civil proceedings in Hong Kong over claims she stole cash from ex-employers HK Yearshine Investment and Twt Global
A Hong Kong woman named as a suspected target in a spying case in the UK is facing civil proceedings at the city’s High Court over allegations she stole more than HK$164 million (US$21 million) from her former employers.
Monica Kwong Man-ki, who previously worked at HK Yearshine Investment and Twt Global, did not appear in court on Friday as the two companies sought to extend an injunction preventing her from transferring the allegedly stolen money.
The whereabouts of Kwong and the case’s three other defendants were not immediately clear.
Yuen, an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office in London, and the other two were last week charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference between last December and May of this year, under the United Kingdom’s National Security Act.
In Hong Kong, Kwong and fellow defendants Hon Tai-hung, Li Jingfang and Pang Yuk-hing had been expected to attend Friday’s hearing after Yearshine Investment and Twt Global filed the claims last December.
The writ from the two companies alleged that Kwong and the others had stolen HK$136.2 million from the first plaintiff and HK$28.7 million from the second between July of 2022 and October of last year.
The relationship between the defendants is currently unknown.
The writ called for the court to declare the four as holding stolen assets belonging to the plaintiffs, as well as seek the necessary means to ensure the money’s recovery.
Upon the plaintiffs’ request, the court at the time also granted an injunction intended to prevent the defendants from transferring the money to any parties except the companies.
The Post learned that Kwong was believed to have already transferred the allegedly stolen money to the other defendants’ accounts, before it was moved elsewhere.
Judge Lisa Wong Kwok-ying on Friday granted an extension of the injunction order, ordering it to be served to the defendants by all possible means.
Yuen and Wai will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
