During the Hong Kong Protests, many nonprofit human rights groups had come forward to provide their service pro bono. One of them is Spark Alliance Humanitarian Funds. Spark Alliance primarily offered pro bono legal aid and bail assistance to the arrested, remanded, and charged. At the time, Hongkongers had never experienced such a high volume of arrests. Therefore, most people were unfamiliar with the legal process. The nonprofit groups were supported and funded by the public.
In December 2019, the anti-extradition nonprofit was targeted by the police. The National Security Bureau later arrested and charged four people from Spark Alliance for money laundering using a crowdfunding platform.
The Hong Kong Police had frozen its bank account of HK$70 million (US$9 million).
The Hong Kong High Court officially issued a confiscation order on Sept. 26.
Superintendent of the Financial Investigation Division (FID), Chow Cheung, stated that the confiscation order was for a nonpublic, closed-door hearing.
Chow stated that he could not reveal the reason for the ruling. However, he mentioned, “The police applied for the confiscation order according to Section 8 of the Organized and Serious Crime Ordinance, which was approved by the court later.”
The superintendent pointed out, “This is the first time in anti-extradition cases that the High Court has ruled to confiscate the assets of a legal aid organization.”
Chow argued, “During June to November 2019, Spark Alliance supported the anti-extradition movement and raised over HK$80 million (US$10.25 million) via crowdfunding. But the police found that Spark Alliance had used the private company bank account to pay personal insurance, credit card bills, and so on. The police find it inconsistent with the organization’s claimed purpose.”
Established to Aid Protesters of the Anti-extradition Movement
According to Spark Alliance’s official Facebook page, the organization was founded after the 2016 incident at Mongkok MTR. It provided professional legal advice, medical assistance, and other support to arrested protesters, prisoners, and their families.As the anti-extradition bill movement was in full swing in November 2019, HSBC accused the humanitarian fund organization of using its account to accept donations through crowdfunding to assist arrestees and protest activities. HSBC, therefore, suspended the bank account of Spark Alliance on the grounds of the inconsistency of usage of HSBC bank accounts.
On Dec. 19, 2019, the National Security Bureau arrested three males and one female, between the age of 17 to 50, who allegedly were related to Spark Alliance. The police had also frozen HK$70 million (US$9 million) which was in the group’s bank account.
The same evening, Spark Alliance issued a statement on Facebook, condemning the Hong Kong Police for smearing. The group criticized the police for distorting the platform and other support channels, and its accusation of money laundering.
