Surrender, lawmaker Yung urges former father-in-law

New People's Party lawmaker Eunice Yung Hoi-yan, former daughter-in-law of Elmer Yuen, one of the suspects, urged all eight to surrender and said she supports police making arrests.

Yung said she cut ties with Yuen in August last year and has nothing to do with his offenses.

"I have no contact with any of the eight suspects and I don't have their contact information. I haven't contacted any of them or made a phone call for a long time," she said.

She added the government could consult the Department of Justice and formally inform relevant countries to request their assistance in arresting the suspects.

Even though some countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, have suspended "surrender of fugitive offenders" agreements with Hong Kong, authorities can still cooperate on individual cases, she said.

Yung added that China is a member of the International Criminal Police Organization and Hong Kong can require Interpol to help make the arrests.

Meanwhile, the rewards offered for the suspects, chief superintendent Li Kwai-wah said, are not to put on a show or spread white terror.

But Li admitted that police cannot make an arrest if the suspects do not return to Hong Kong. Still, national security officers will not stop their mission and will continue to carry out the investigation, he added.

The rewards will help police track down the suspects if they return to Hong Kong through illegal means in the future, Li said, adding police have sufficient evidence to prosecute them once they return.

"We are not doing any show or spreading white terror, instead, we are enforcing the law and aiming to arrest the suspects," he said.

Li said the police force offers rewards to detect serious crimes and the reward will be useful in determining the whereabouts of suspects.

"Of course, you may say that they are overseas and [the reward] will not be useful. But you never know, maybe someday they will come back to Hong Kong through illegal means. That kind of information should be very useful for us," Li said.

"All we have done is just to prepare [if] one day they are back in Hong Kong, [we can] effectively arrest them and that justice be done."

Li also said articles 37 and 38 of the national security law state the ordinance applies to both Hongkongers and nonpermanent residents who commit offenses outside Hong Kong.

But Executive Council member Ronny Tong Ka-wah said Hong Kong is not able to enforce its laws overseas and political offenders cannot be surrendered across countries.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com