Self-exiled former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui rejects HSBC explanation it had no choice but to freeze accounts of him and his family
- Hui says he can ‘hardly accept the nearly laughable U-turn explanation’ HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn gave him in an email last week
- He accuses the bank of failing to provide the legal basis for freezing his and his family’s accounts and to explain why they were ‘collectively punished’
Self-exiled former opposition lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung on Sunday dismissed as “irresponsible” an explanation by the boss of HSBC that the bank had “no choice” but to freeze accounts belonging to him and his family at the behest of Hong Kong police.
Hui said he received a personal email from HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn last week explaining why the bank froze their credit cards and savings accounts soon after he absconded in December.
Hui, who posted a picture of part of the letter on his Facebook page, quoted Quinn as writing that it was wrong for bank staff to say the credit cards were cancelled as a commercial decision as HSBC had only frozen them – an explanation the ex-Democratic Party lawmaker rejected.
Quinn added the bank was legally obliged to take action after being notified by police.
“I can hardly accept the nearly laughable U-turn explanation given by HSBC regarding my credit cards, from ‘a commercial decision to cancel’ to ‘frozen only’ after enormous public criticisms,” Hui said. “This is not so much a mistake made by a frontline staff member … The international bank has put its customer service on the pillar of shame in its political toadyism.”
HSBC said it had no comment on the issue.