UK court jails 2 Hongkongers tied to trade office for up to 10 years for spying
Office manager Bill Yuen sentenced to eight years and security firm operator Peter Wai jailed for 10 years, drawing condemnation from city government
A British court has jailed two men linked to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London for up to 10 years for spying on activists, prompting immediate condemnation from the city government, which reiterated that their convictions involved “unfounded allegations and smearing”.
Bill Yuen Chung-biu, an office manager at the HKETO, was sentenced to eight years in prison for assisting a foreign intelligence service on Thursday.
Co-defendant Peter Wai Chi-leung, a security firm operator and former part-time UK Border Force officer, was imprisoned for 10 years for the same charge and another for misconduct in a public office.
The sentencing by Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb at the Old Bailey court followed a morning of intense legal mitigation, during which defence lawyers pushed back against prosecution claims that the duo’s actions amounted to a “betrayal” of their adopted country.
Yuen, a retired police superintendent, was accused of passing surveillance requests from Hong Kong authorities to Wai while working at the trade office.