HSBC has been criticized by international politicians for its decision to freeze the bank accounts of democracy activist Xu Zhifeng in Hong Kong.
The Times reported Monday (Feb. 8) that more than 50 politicians from the Transnational Parliamentary Alliance on China Policy wrote a letter to HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker asking him to unfreeze the accounts of Xu and his Family.
In their letter to the HSBC chairman, they said it was “very worrying” that Xu and his family had had their accounts frozen without being charged, The Times reported.
They also said in the letter that HSBC had “disregarded the law and due process and compromised the assets and private property rights of its customers. The letter asked HSBC to provide a “formal explanation” for its decision to freeze the accounts.
“The joint letter from the Inter-Parliamentary Union on China Policy also urges HSBC to publicly commit to “protecting access to funds for individuals and their families accused by politically motivated authorities in mainland China and Hong Kong.
The Times reported that an HSBC spokeswoman said, “We are unable to comment on individual cases. Like every bank, we have to operate within the laws and legal framework of the countries in which we operate. When we receive specific legal instructions from the police in Hong Kong or elsewhere to freeze the account of someone who is under formal investigation, we have no choice but to comply. Violation of such an order would constitute a criminal offence.”
“The Inter-Parliamentary Union on China Policy is an international organization of more than 100 parliamentarians from Western democracies. The letter to HSBC includes former British Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Danish MP Uffe Elbaek and Australian MP Kimberley Kitching, among others.
Hui Chi-fung is a former Hong Kong legislator who participated in the “anti-China” movement. He announced his formal exile last December and is now in the United Kingdom, where his and his family’s bank accounts in Hong Kong have been frozen.
British MP Chris Bryant told Noel Quinn, CEO of HSBC Holdings, the parent company of HSBC, at a hearing last month on HSBC’s freezing of Xu’s bank accounts that HSBC was “aiding and abetting the world’s largest crackdown on democracy. Noel Quinn, CEO of HSBC Holdings, the parent company of HSBC, told the hearing that HSBC was “aiding and abetting the world’s largest suppression of democracy.
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