Hong Kong protests: civil servant who raised HK$4.5 million for those arrested during unrest accused of spending funds on luxury handbags
- Woman detained on suspicion of money laundering
- Two male suspects wanted for questioning are believed to have fled city
A source said the suspect, a 25-year-old woman, is a member of a group whose name in Chinese roughly translates as “the book of Hong Kong freedom”. She works for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
The group was among the first to set up street booths to collect food and cash coupons for protesters after the social unrest began in June 2019.
Officers arrested the woman on Friday morning and want to question two more men in connection with the case, but they are believed to have fled the city.
Senior Inspector Lo Yat-chun said the woman in question held one of the two corporate bank accounts which in total collected HK$2.08 million between August 2019 and last December. The group claimed on social media that money in the accounts would be used to support the lives and medical expenses of people arrested during the protests.
Lo said police had found that the HK$2.08 million was then transferred to her personal bank account, which later also received an extra HK$2.5 million from unknown sources.