Former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker who announced UK exile faces bank account lockdowns News
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Former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker who announced UK exile faces bank account lockdowns

Ted Hui, a former lawmaker from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp, said Sunday that he no longer had access to his Hong Kong bank account after having announced on Thursday that is seeking asylum status in the UK following a visit to Denmark. He recently resigned from Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy party and is currently facing criminal charges in Hong Kong related to previous democracy protests.

Hui self-exiled last week with the aid of Danish authorities, disguising his absconding to Denmark as attendance at a climate change conference. His family also left Hong Kong, and were faced with frozen bank accounts when they first arrived in Britain.  Three accounts with hundreds of thousands of US dollars were tagged for embezzlement. Bank officials refused further comment.

Hong Kong authorities arrested Hui in a prior altercation that happened in the 2019 protests. He is among one of the few politicians that resigned en masse after the Hong Kong government disqualified four pro-democracy assembly members. He was also the first lawmaker to file a private prosecution against traffic officer  Kwan Ka-Wing, accused of shooting a student protestor.

Late Sunday night, Hui announced that his family members’ accounts had been unfrozen while his own HSBC account has been partially unfrozen. He said that he would continue to help rally international allies to promote Hong Kong’s pro-democracy efforts.

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