Hong Kong’s leader John Lee has dismissed “unwarranted accusations” that the city funded the surveillance of overseas activists wanted by national security police, after a government employee was charged by UK authorities over alleged spying activities.
The chief executive on Tuesday also urged Britain to “fairly handle” the case, which involves an employee at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London. Bill Yuen, one of the defendants in the case, is listed as an office manager at the trade office on the government’s directory.
Lee also reassured the public that the trade office’s operations would not be affected.
UK arrests
Yuen, 63, alongside Peter Wai, 38, and Matthew Trickett, 37, were arrested in early May and have been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference under UK’s National Security Act 2023. They appeared before the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday and were granted bail pending the next hearing on May 24, according to British media reports.
“The foreign intelligence service to which the above charges relate is that of Hong Kong,” the London Metropolitan Police said in a Monday statement announcing the arrests.
The trio stands accused of “agreeing to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service” between December last year and May, according to the prosecution.
The prosecution alleged that the three men targeted Hong Kong activists based in the UK, including ex-lawmaker Nathan Law, veteran unionist Christopher Mung, and Finn Lau, and carried out surveillance of them. Law, Mung, and Lau are wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police and have a HK$1 million bounty each over their heads for information leading to their arrests.
They were said to have broken into a UK residence on May 1. The residence is not one of the three activists’.
Wai also allegedly received three payments totalling £95,500 (HK$936,548) from a HSBC account of the HKETO between June last year and January.
‘UK’s fabrication’
Lee on Tuesday called allegations that the Hong Kong government funded surveillance of overseas activists “unwarranted” and “unacceptable,” saying the HKETOs were legitimate government bodies promoting the economic and trade interest of Hong Kong in different countries.
Lee quoted an earlier statement issued by the Chinese embassy in the UK, which said: “The Chinese side firmly rejects and strongly condemns the UK’s fabrication of the so-called case and its unwarranted accusation against the [Hong Kong] government.”
He added: “We have seriously demanded the UK side to fairly handle the matter, effectively protect the legitimate rights and interest of the HKETO office manager who was alleged to be involved, and ensure that the normal work of the [HKETO] is not affected.”
The chief executive, who is a former police officer and served as the city’s security chief from 2017 to 2021, also denied having a personal relationship with Yuen. The trade office manager is understood to be a retired police officer. Since the arrests were reported, a picture has circulated online of Lee and Yuen at a police management course graduation at an Australian university in 2002.
“The only impression I have of [Yuen] is this photograph,” Lee said in Cantonese.
Monday’s arrests in the UK followed an earlier incident, in which German authorities arrested three German nationals on suspicion of spying for Beijing. One of the arrestees, Thomas Reichenbach, was a former employee of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, another publicly-funded trade promotion body of the city, the SCMP reported last week.
Lee on Tuesday said the HKETO’s promotion works “means a lot to Hong Kong” and to the places where they were set up. Hong Kong has 14 HKETOs – including three in the US – overseas to “advance Hong Kong’s economic and trade interests,” according to the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.
“Any attempt to interfere with the work of the [HKETO] officers in different places will be against free trade and free economy, and will be harming the economy of the countries that try to do bad things to the operations of the [HKETO],” he added.
Yuen is an office manager under the administration unit of the HKETO in London, according to the office’s organisational chart.
Security firms
The other two defendants in the case, Wai and Trickett, are understood to be British law enforcement officers, with the former being a border control officer based at London Heathrow Airport and a city of London police special constable.
Wai is also believed to be the director of a UK-based security firm, D5 Security Consultancy Limited, according to the country’s companies registry records.
The company’s website says it provides “security and staffing services for high-net-worth individuals, families and businesses based in the UK, China and Hong Kong.” It also says “the majority of [its] staff have extensive backgrounds in the British Military and Police.”
The website describes Wai as “having over 20 years’ experience in the British military, police and private security sector” which allows him to provide “exclusive and discreet services to his clients.”
According to his profile on LinkedIn, Trickett was a former British Royal Marine and had worked as a security consultant for the past decade. He is also a director of UK-based security firm MTR Consultancy Limited, which was incorporated in 2021, according to company registry records.
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