HSBC distances itself from police crackdown on protest fundraiser accused of money laundering
- Opposition lawmaker and lawyer James To says it is normal for a group to receive cash from public donations
- Criminal law professor Simon Young says using clean money to commit crimes cannot be called money laundering
HSBC has distanced itself from a Hong Kong police move to freeze more than HK$70 million (US$9 million) from a fund supporting anti-government protests, fearing it could be targeted by radicals who have vandalised outlets of banks seen as being linked to or supporting Beijing.
Protesters held a rally on Friday near the banking giant’s headquarters to condemn the police crackdown, but supporters of the movement online were split on whether to “punish” HSBC for previously closing the account of fundraising platform Spark Alliance HK.
The city’s largest bank was on the defensive a day after police arrested four people for allegedly laundering money for the second-largest pro-democracy funding platform, set up to help those arrested or jailed over the protests.
While opposition lawmakers and some legal experts questioned the justification for the crackdown, a police insider pushed back, claiming prosecutors were not required to prove that actual proceeds of crime were involved. Police suspect the funds were used for personal gain and other illegal activities, including participation rewards for young protesters.
All four arrested were released on bail on Thursday night, including a 50-year-old man listed as director of a shell company at the centre of most of the financial transactions. HSBC closed the account of “Prime Management Service Limited” in November.
Police insiders said the account of the largely dormant company was reactivated around June, when it recorded more than 50,000 deposits totalling nearly HK$81 million, which led to their investigation in early October.