Andrew Kan to head national security police

Assistant commissioner of police Andrew Kan Kai-yan has been promoted as the new director of the national security department, replacing its former director Frederic Choi Chin-pang who was embroiled in a massage parlor scandal in March last year.

The police force wrote on its website that the promotion happened in December last year, four months after Choi was transfered and relocated as the director of personnel and training of the force.

Kan was promoted to the rank of assistant commissioner of police in September 2019 and was in charge of service quality. He was appointed to the national security department in September last year.

Joining the police force as an inspector in 1991, Kan had previously served as the district commander of the airport, district commander of Wan Chai and deputy regional commander of Hong Kong Island.

During his career, he attended overseas and mainland development courses at various training institutes including China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, Peking University, Scottish Police College and UK Royal College of Defence Studies.

Choi, 51, was put on leave after he was caught in a massage parlor raid on March 19. During the operation, three women and a man arrested in the operation have been charged with running a prostitution business, Viet Spa, in Wan Chai.

The police later said there was no evidence to suggest Choi did anything illegal or an immoral act, and the Department of Justice also said Choi did not involve any criminal offense. But the case has been passed to the Secretariat on Civil Service Discipline under the Civil Service Bureau for further investigation after primary discipline review.

Choi was transferred to another post -- director of personnel and training of the police force -- and resumed his duty on August 11.

Both Kan and Choi were among the Hong Kong and mainland officials being sanctioned by the United States in January following the mass arrests of pro-democracy activists.

They were named in the sanction list also due to the US government believing they were related to the implantation of the national security law.