Ted Hui had secret funds transferred overseas while fleeing Hong Kong

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Renegade lawyer and fugitive from Hong Kong justice, Ted Hui Chi-fung, who had his Hong Kong assets confiscated this week by the Court of First Instance, has a secret stash overseas, according to interviews he had with foreign media.

On Monday (Feb.17) the court ordered the confiscation of assets worth about $800,000 from Hui after it was learned that he had already given $2.5 million in assets to his mother and wife before and after he absconded from Hong Kong in December 2020. Assets held by a law firm in Hong Kong have also been confiscated.

The Hong Kong Police Force confirmed to local media that Hui was suspected of embezzling crowdfunding money from his relatives' accounts and was being investigated for money laundering.

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review recently, Hui admitted that during a brief reprieve in the freezing of his accounts in 2020, he was able to get most of his money out before the freeze was reinstated. He made a similar statement to The Guardian saying he was able to transfer “the majority of funds” out of Hong Kong. Hui had at least five accounts at HSBC, Hang Seng Bank and Bank of China (Hong Kong) belonging to him and his family members. There are suggestions in some quarters that this transfer could be in the range of about $12 million.

As soon as the court order was made, Hui protested violently on his Facebook site that the ruling was absurd and was a violation of human rights.

The HKSAR Government reacted to clarify that: "Hong Kong is a society underpinned by the rule of law and has always adhered to the principle that laws must be obeyed, and lawbreakers be held accountable. Amongst others, it is a common and effective practice to make an application to the Court for a confiscation order to prevent offenders from benefiting from their criminal acts. In fact, laws and mechanisms for confiscation of crime proceeds are common around the world. They cover the crime proceeds from commission of any serious offence, including offences endangering national security."

Its statement noted that Hui had committed numerous heinous crimes, with a number of criminal charges being laid against him. He conspired with foreign politicians in 2020 to forge documents and deceive the court with false information in order to obtain the court's permission to leave Hong Kong while he was on bail, jumped bail and absconded overseas. Afterwards, he was suspected to have committed offences endangering national security overseas. On August 12, 2021, and June 21, 2023, two magistrates issued warrants against Hui for allegedly committed crimes of 'inciting secession', 'inciting subversion of state power', and 'colluding with foreign or external forces to endanger national security'. Hui is a wanted person with reward notice by the Police.

Police said Hui has advocated Taiwan independence, Hong Kong independence and the overthrow of China's basic system through social media.

"Between January 2021 and December 2022, Hui published posts on social media to request foreign countries to impose sanctions and engage in other hostile activities against the PRC and the Hong Kong SAR," a police warrant read.

The police also alleged Hui has colluded with foreign forces and is an advisory board member of anti-China groups Hong Kong Watch in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong Democracy Council in the United States. He lobbied Western politicians and officials to impose sanctions against the mainland and Hong Kong, police said.

Hui has always been troublesome. He first caught media attention for his protests in the Legislative Council. In 2014, he was ejected from a meeting of the council's working group on civic education when protesting the council's decision to grant HK$150,000 to pro-Beijing groups.

Hui was also considered to be quite radical within the Democratic Party when he opposed the party's meetings with Beijing officials. And, in April 2018, Hui was under police investigation for snatching a Security Bureau executive officer's phone and taking it to a Legislative Council Complex toilet on 24 April 2018. The Democratic Party suspended the lawmaker and criticized him for seriously tarnishing the reputation of lawmakers.
Hui disrupted the second reading of the National Anthem Bill in the Legislative Council by dropping a container containing rotten plant matter inside the chamber. A fellow lawmaker was taken to hospital after being exposed to the smell. Hui and two other lawmakers, Eddie Chu and Raymond Chan, were charged with hindering the business of the council and violating the Powers and Privileges Ordinance, with Hui having dropped the foul-smelling liquid during the LegCo session. Hui was subsequently fined HK$52,000.

When Hui decided to jump bail, he fled to Denmark with the help of political friends under the guise that he was attending an environmental meeting. From there he went to London and then to Australia, where his sister lives. He said that he would be practising full time at a law firm – RSA Law – in Adelaide, mainly focusing on civil and commercial cases, and would help Hongkongers who had applied for asylum in the country. Hui finished a law degree in Hong Kong but never practised.

He now lives in Adelaide, South Australia, where he passed integrity vetting despite having boasted that he faced a total of 23 charges in Hong Kong and had seven warrants out for his arrest, claiming his admission as a lawyer was a “slap on the face” for Hong Kong authorities. But then, again, Australia’s foundation is based on the importation of criminals.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Is the proposed sale of the Cheung Kong Hutchison (CKH) shipping ports at either end of the Panama Canal an astute business deal or a bold political takeover? It can be argued both ways.

The Chinese side of the pendulum foresees doom as the sale would increase the US hegemony over global shipping because the sale includes not only Hutchison’s two shipping ports, but 80 per cent of all of Hutchison’s 43 ports world-wide. The intended principal buyer is BlackRock Inc., a major US financial and investment conglomerate.

The business side of the pendulum sees it as a major business deal worth US$23 billion.
The proposed sale drew the ire of China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), which reposted a Ta Kung Pao commentary criticising the CKH port deal with U.S. investment firm BlackRock as a betrayal of China, sending shares of CKH sharply lower on March 14.

The commentary said the U.S. would constrain China's maritime trade, and Chinese companies would face great risks in logistics and supply chains, impacting China's Belt and Road initiatives.
"This deal is an act of hegemony by the US, which uses its state power to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of other countries through despicable means such as coercion, pressure, and inducement," the commentary wrote.

"It is power politics packaged as a 'business behaviour'."

The in-principle agreement with the BlackRock-led consortium gave the two sides 145 days to hammer out specific terms and details before finalising the transaction, according to a Hong Kong Stock Exchange statement by CKH. Also, the deal will need to be approved by CK Hutchison’s shareholders, obtain approval from the Panamanian government, and meet unspecified customary terms agreed by the two sides, according to the statement “After the Panama Canal has been ‘Americanised’ and ‘politicised’, the US will definitely use it for political purposes and implement its own political agenda, and China’s shipping and trade here will certainly be subject to the US,” Ta Kung Pao wrote in a series of articles blasting the sale.

US president Trump announced immediately after his inauguration in January that he would “recover” the Panama Canal, which was owned by China. He was totally wrong. The Panama Canal is owned and operated by Panama, and the ports at each end are owned by Panama Ports Company, a subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings, a further subsidiary of CKH But it’s obvious that kicking China (via Hutchinson) out of Panama had been planned for some time.

Immediately after his inauguration, Trump sounded out potential buyers for the ports and had a meeting with BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink in the White House. Fink is an old billionaire buddy of Trump. After that meeting, Trump sent his right-hand man, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, off to Panama to sort things out. And, by sheer coincidence, within a month, a deal was made for the sale of the ports.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Trump is planning an executive order to charge fees for China-linked vessels in the US. ports, in a bid to resuscitate American shipbuilding and disrupt China's supply chains.

But Li Ka Shing (96) retired, but still an advisor to the company, and his son Victor (60), now chairman of CKH, are businessmen like Trump. And a deal is a deal.

The disposal was primarily driven by an attractive valuation by wealth management firm Morningstar of the ports’ worth undertaken by CKH. Zerina Zeng and Zoey Zhou from debt research firm CreditSights, with offices in the US, UK, and Singapore, said. “CK Hutchison has a track record of recycling assets, and this is not the first time that Li and the conglomerate have faced criticism in the Chinese media, which we do not view as a major hurdle for deal completion,” they said.

The sale is understandable owing to its small returns compared with its role as a lightning rod of US-China tensions. The ports in Panama accounted for merely 1 per cent of CKH’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, according to JPMorgan.

The sales proceeds will generate US$19 billion in cash for CKH, substantially higher than Morningstar’s US$10.5 billion valuation of its port assets. CKH’s shares surged by almost a quarter in intraday trading before closing 22 per cent higher at an 18-month record of HK$47.10 in Hong Kong. Its shares fell after the Chinese criticism later in the week.

But CKH has not totally abandoned its shipping business. After the proposed sale, CKH would still own stakes in four of the world’s 10 busiest container ports: Hong Kong’s Kwai Tsing port, Shenzhen’s Yantian port,Ningbo’s Beilun terminal, and the Mingdong and Pudong terminals in Shanghai.

However, it must be mindful of the words of China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian when he said that the ministry supported Hong Kong companies in doing business overseas but “opposed any abuse of coercion and pressuring in international trade and economic relations.”
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu concurred, adding: “The Hong Kong SAR government urges foreign governments to provide a fair and just environment for enterprises, including enterprises from Hong Kong.”