Four more people have been arrested over complaints related to allegedly selling pension funds without a valid licence, including at least three former democratic district councillors turned insurance agents.
Following the arrest of Derek Chu, a democrat and former Mong Kong district councillor, on Tuesday over allegedly promoting and selling Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) schemes without a valid licence, four more people were apprehended on fraud charges on Wednesday and Thursday.
After further investigation, police said Chu was suspected of involving in a separate charge of fraud. He was later released on bail without charge.
Among those arrested on Wednesday and Thursday were Yeung Yuk and Sunny Chiu, both former democratic district councillors, a person with knowledge of the matter told HKFP. The remaining two were sons of Janet Ng, current vice chairman of Sham Shui Po District Council and a former member of pro-democracy Civic Party.
In response to enquiries by HKFP, police said they had received complaints regarding individuals promoting MPF schemes on social media and during events without a valid MPF intermediary licence.
Police confirmed they arrested four men aged 31 to 38 on Wednesday and Thursday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and fraud. Their homes and offices were searched with a warrant, and documents and digital devices were seized.
Chiu’s girlfriend updated his Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon, saying that Chiu was at a police station with his lawyer. “Please allow us some time and space… We have taken note of your concern. Please wait for him to be released before we report on his safety,” the Chinese-language post said.
Democrats won a landslide victory in the 2019 District Council election, taking control of 17 out of the city’s 18 district bodies. However, many pro-democracy district councillors left their positions in 2021 after a new oath was introduced to weed out “unpatriotic” representatives.
Some former district councillors later turned to other occupations, becoming insurance agents and financial advisors.
According to InMedia, Yeung, the former chairman of Sham Shui Po District Councillor, joined multinational company Manulife as an insurance agent a few months after quitting as a district councillor in 2021.
He also worked with other ex-district councillors who also became insurance agents, including Chiu, to form a “community financial planning team” to serve residents in Sham Shui Po.
Yeung said they focused on educating low-income workers about MPF, as many lacked knowledge of the pension fund scheme.
According to Chiu’s Instagram account, he is a financial planner for Manulife and also a real estate agent.
According to the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme Authority (MPFA), individuals must pass qualifying examinations and be registered by the MPFA to sell MPF. Companies should make sure their employees involved in MPF sales have passed the relevant exams and completed registration.
In response to HKFP, Manulife said the company was aware of the arrests of some of its agents and had suspended the “agent status” of the individuals concerned.
“We will cooperate fully with the authorities in their investigation,” the company said, “Manulife upholds the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in all our dealings and expects all our agents to abide by the same principles.”
Manulife did not respond as to whether those individuals were registered to promote and sell MPF services and whether the company had checked their registrations in recent months.
‘Soft resistance’
Promoting MPF sales at a community level was attacked by pro-establishment figures late last month.
Dominic Lee, a member of the pro-Beijing New People’s Party, said in a commentary published by state-backed Chinese-language newspaper Wen Wei Po that some former district councillors were “lurking in the community under the guise of selling insurance and dealing with MPF accounts for residents.”
Lee accused this of being “soft resistance”, a vague term used by government officials and pro-establishment figures to condemn activities deemed to be against the local government or Beijing.
“[Authorities] should closely monitor the activities of this so-called ‘community work’ by anti-China rioters in Hong Kong, ” Lee wrote. “If any illegal activities are detected, law enforcement actions should be taken immediately.”
Correction 24/10/2023: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Yeung Yuk and Sunny Chiu were arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday, when it should have been Wednesday and Thursday. We regret the error.
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