Two held after church raid linked to fraud, laundering

A former director and a staff member of the Good Neighbourhood North District Church have been arrested in suspicion of fraud and money laundering involving HK$27 million.

The arrests came after the church, which supported the anti-fugitive bill movement and offered help to the homeless, saw its bank accounts frozen by HSBC on Monday. It demanded the bank unfreeze the accounts.

Police yesterday arrested a 24-year-old woman surnamed Lau, a former director of the church, for alleged fraud and money laundering. A 37-year-old female worker surnamed Tsui was arrested for money laundering.

The bank accounts of the church's pastor, Roy Chan Hoi-hing, and his wife were also frozen. Chan is in Britain with his family and has said he does not think it is safe to return home. Police have issued warrants for the arrest of the pastor and his wife.

Superintendent Chow Cheung-yau of the Narcotics Bureau's financial investigation said: "The pastor claimed the accounts were frozen because of political suppression and the religious sector was being hit. But this is a fraud and money-laundering case. It is a very serious criminal case."

He said the church launched crowdfunding and the accounts received a total of HK$27 million from June last year to September this year.

Chow said: "This amount is way higher than the HK$8.9 million they claimed they have raised. In other words, they have hidden a donation of HK$18 million."

Police said some expenses from the accounts were different to the aims of the fundraising. "Police suspect that someone exploited the kindness of people in the name of religion," Chow said.

Police also ordered HSBC to freeze five accounts involving HK$25 million.

Chan said in a Facebook video that he fears it would be impossible for them to return to Hong Kong due to safety concerns.

"HSBC freezes our accounts for political retaliation. [It is] becoming pro-Beijing. Hong Kong is no longer the Hong Kong we knew," Chan said.

"HSBC is harming us, a church with a registered license plus a law-abiding family, where every penny we get is through legal donation. [HSBC has] the power to manipulate the assets of any entity out of political reason to whatever extent it can do."

Chan said 30 homeless people could be evicted if the church fails to pay rent.

"What HSBC has done is outrageous and inhuman, especially under the fourth wave of the epidemic," Chan said.

"As a registered charitable organization, we hired four social workers with public donations and operate more than 30 free hostel places, serving more than 70 cases.

"Now, being unable to pay rent for the hostels and salaries for our dedicated social workers, we are forced to sweep the homeless out - making them homeless again."

The church said about 10 financial investigation officers of the Narcotics Bureau searched its Kwun Tong gathering point yesterday and requested contact details of the church pastor and directors of the church company for investigation.

Police also entered its Fan Ling church with a warrant and searched its three hostels for the homeless.

A social worker who works for the church, Lau Ka-tung, was taken away by police for questioning. He was convicted of deliberately obstructing police at an unauthorized anti-government rally in Yuen Long last July. He is on bail pending appeal.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor questioned the credibility of former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, who fled to Britain, saying he had lied to the courts.

Without naming Hui, Lam said: "Is this individual a trustworthy individual that you should take his word at face value and accuse the Hong Kong financial institutions of doing things which are not in accordance with the law? If there is any damage to Hong Kong's financial institutions, the culprit is this individual," she said.