Collaborating with foreign forces and supporting the rioters... Hong Kong police investigates the "Black Riot Fund"

  [Global Times Special Correspondent in Hong Kong, Ye Lan] Since the Hong Kong National Security Law took effect more than a year, many opposition organizations have been disbanded one after another.

The "612 Fund", which provides financial support to the rioters, was also investigated by the police.

  According to Schedule 7 of the Implementation Rules of Article 43 of the Hong Kong National Security Law, the police can apply to the Court of First Instance of the High Court for a "material submission order" to request relevant persons to provide information related to the investigation of crimes endangering national security.

According to Hong Kong’s “Oriental Daily” report on September 2, the National Security Department of the Police Force is investigating the suspected violation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law or other Hong Kong laws by the “612 Fund”, requesting the trustee of the fund and providing it with custody and funding. The directors of the "True Universal Suffrage Alliance" of revenue and expenditure services submitted a series of data, including details of multiple crowdfunding, fund exchanges, and the identity of donors and recipients.

The police emphasized that violating the Hong Kong National Security Law is an extremely serious crime, and the use of money or other property to subsidize others to implement the crimes under the National Security Law is also a crime.

The analysis believes that the police have taken prompt action to prevent the "612 Fund" that has announced the imminent suspension of operations from destroying sensitive information. The focus of the investigation is whether the donation organization or individual is involved in illegal acts such as collusion with foreign forces.

If there is sufficient evidence, Chen Rijun of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, who is the trustee of the "612 Foundation", Xu Baoqiang, guest associate professor of the Department of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University, singer He Yunshi, barrister Wu Aiyi, and former Legislative Council member He Xiulan may all be responsible.

  The "612 Fund" supporting the "black storm" was established on June 15, 2019, and has always claimed to provide support for arrested rioters, including medical care, criminal or civil legal expenses, and emergency financial assistance.

According to the financial briefing released by the fund earlier, as of July 31, its total income was as high as 258 million Hong Kong dollars, and its total expenditure was as high as 256 million Hong Kong dollars.

However, the "612 Fund" has never made a public account of its huge expenditures, making it highly suspect that the flow of its funds involves illegal activities.

In the past, most of the organizations that publicly raised funds and donated funds for the "612 Fund" were "speculators" groups, and they were inextricably linked to external forces.

For example, the "FDC" raised about 7.38 million Hong Kong dollars for the fund in June 2019; Apple Daily, which was frequently in a hurry and hard to protect itself in 2019, also donated nearly 1.35 million Hong Kong dollars to the fund from July to October, and the fund also received many funds. Large "anonymous" donations.

On August 18, the "612 Fund" announced that it was about to disband. It should immediately terminate all crowdfunding activities and stop collecting donations, but it still set a final round of fundraising with a target of 25 million Hong Kong dollars.

  It is worth mentioning that the "612 Fund" has always claimed to operate as a "trust", and has never opened an exclusive bank account, nor has it officially registered for associations and companies.

Zheng Yushuo, the convener of the "Zhenpu Lian", which lent a bank account to the fund, has a close relationship with external forces.

Zheng Yushuo, 72, once studied in Australia and later obtained local citizenship. After moving to Australia in December last year, he even threatened to "remote resistance".

The Secretary for Security Deng Pingqiang criticized the "612 Fund" without naming names a few days ago, saying that the fund has been announced to be dissolved soon, and it is unreasonable to still require the public to make large donations, and reprimanded it whether it wanted to make more money before it was dissolved.

  Senior Counsel Tang Jiahua, a member of the Executive Council, said on September 2 that the police had been granted a "material submission order" by the court, reflecting that the police must have certain criminal evidence.

He emphasized that assisting or funding others to commit illegal acts can also constitute crimes.

The DAB Legislative Council Member Ge Peifan said that the more eager the "612 Fund" is to end, the more law enforcement agencies have to investigate the source and flow of its funds, and more importantly, investigate whether it is involved in crimes such as collusion with external forces and incitement to endanger national security. It evades any responsibility.

Practicing barrister Gong Jingyi said that the recipients of the "612 Fund" participated in the "Hong Kong version of the color revolution" jointly promoted by foreign forces and local "speculators". Although the Hong Kong National Security Law did not take effect at that time, the fund was after the National Security Law took effect. If it still operates and uses money or other property to subsidize others to disrupt Hong Kong, it may violate the National Security Law.

The chairman of the Hong Kong Law Exchange Foundation and barrister Man Guo stressed that if citizens continue to donate money to the relevant fund, they may also violate the law.

  A Hong Kong media commented on the 2nd that the "regulations" the year before last turned into a "black storm", and the violent march on June 12 was a watershed.

The establishment of the “612 Fund” by the “speculators” is essentially to relieve the mobs from worries and allow them to carry out illegal activities with confidence and boldness.

The black storm lasts for a long time and is large in scale. It involves a large number of "black gold" operations. Where did the "black gold" come from, how to use it, and whether it came from overseas. It has been very shady up to now. The police investigation of the "612 Fund" has helped to solve the mystery.

A comment published on Toutiao Daily on the 2nd also mentioned that the "Educational Association", "FDC", "Stakes" and "612 Fund", one after another organizations advocating "speculation" fell one after another, and the public continued to speculate. The next one to be disbanded or banned is likely to be a "trade union" that actively participates in violent activities and receives long-term foreign funding.

The article said that the biggest problem in Hong Kong in the past few years is that there are too many people and organizations that are not doing their jobs properly: professional organizations are unprofessional, and politics are in charge; labor unions regard labor rights as secondary and only engage in politics every day.

This is true of the "Education Association", and so is the Bar Association, which put politics above its own business, and it is inevitable to disband in the end.