Hong Kong district councillors Henry Wong and Timothy Lee, along with a company director, were arrested Sunday morning in connection to allegedly inflated campaign finances in the lead up to the Legislative Council (LegCo) elections earlier this year.
Separately, D100 radio host “Giggs,” his wife and an assistant, were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of violating the National Security Law after leading a crowdfunding campaign to solicit donations for protesters who fled to Taiwan, Apple Daily reported.
Wong, a localist district councillor in Yuen Long, live-streamed his arrest on Facebook at 6am on Sunday. The video showed several men entering his home with a court warrant and ordering him to hand over identification documents and his cellphone.
The arrest was made by the Commercial Crime Bureau of the police, Apple Daily reported.
Wong was running for a seat in the District Council (Second) functional constituency earlier this year, with Lee as his running mate. The duo had declared HK$4.89 million in campaign expenses during the campaign period, Apple Daily first reported. However, the government then announced that the election would be postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wong is a young localist politician who won a seat on the Yuen Long district council last November, while Lee won a seat on the Kowloon City district council. The LegCo candidate who declared the second highest amount of expenses was pro-establishment candidate Starry Lee, with HK$2.65 million spent on the campaign.
Of the HK$4.89 million campaign cost expensed, HK$4.5 million was donated by a company “U Made This.” Wong and Lee’s campaign declared it had spent HK$920,000 worth of services in personal image direction, make-up, photography, and speech writing, and HK$960,000 on social media advertisements – both of which were prices quoted by the company according to election public records reviewed by Apple Daily.
Various imitation firearms, bullets and a wooden bow were taken from Wong’s home, along with documents, computers and mobile phones. Wong is additionally charged with possession of imitation firearms, a police spokesperson told a press briefing on Sunday.
Former “U Made This” company director Chan Tze-Him was also arrested in connection with the case. The trio are in police custody and have been allowed to meet with their lawyers, according to updates posted on Wong’s Facebook page.
Radio host detained
Earlier on Saturday, D100 radio host Wan Yiu-sing, his wife and a personal assistant were arrested on suspicion of providing pecuniary or other financial assistance or property for the commission of secession – a violation of the national security law. They were also accused of money laundering.
Wan – nicknamed “Giggs” – called for donations in February to support the living expenses of Hong Kong protesters, who had travelled to seek refuge and study in Taiwan, via his personal Facebook page and his website. Citing anonymous sources, HK01 reported that the host was corresponding with a pro-Taiwan independence group, and that the funding drive raised over HK$10 million. However, HK$6 million was reportedly used to invest in stocks.
Giggs and his wife both posted bail on Sunday, for HK$200,000 and HK$150,000 respectively.
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