The defunct “612 Humanitarian Support Fund” was accused of failing to apply for registration or exemption from registration as a society within the specified time limit. Five trustees, including Cardinal Chen Yat-kun, Emeritus Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, and the fund’s secretary, Shi Chengwei, were each charged with related crimes. The trial opened at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts yesterday. All six have denied the charges, and the trial is expected to last five days. The prosecution, which will call five witnesses, said the fund received $270 million in funds and had a balance of $74.4 million when it was dissolved.
The defendants in the case include Cardinal Chen Rijun, former Legislative Council member Ng Ai-yi, Ho Sau-lan, artist Ho Yun-sze, former Lingnan University associate professor Xu Baoqiang, and fund secretary Shi Chengwei. The charges allege that between July 16, 2019 and October 31, 2021, the defendants, acting as officers of local associations of the “612 Humanitarian Support Fund” in Hong Kong, failed to comply with the Societies Ordinance, Chapter 151 of the Laws of Hong Kong5 within the specified time limit. (1), each of the six was charged with one count of “failure to apply for registration or exemption from registration of a society within the specified time limit”.
The prosecution disclosed in its opening statement that from the establishment of the fund in June 2019 to the end of October 2021, the account had a total of about 103,000 deposit transactions and received funds of 270 million yuan; there were 7,600 withdrawal transactions. The balance was $74.4 million.
The prosecution also listed some of the projects funded by the fund, including audio spending for anti-amendment public gatherings, support for tertiary and academic circles to lobby overseas to call on foreign governments to sanction SAR and central officials, and to provide refugees for Hong Kong people. The fund also allocated 3.76 million yuan and 200,000 yuan respectively to support Taiwan’s Civil Judicial Reform Foundation and the New Hong Kong Cultural Association. The prosecution alleges that the former criticized the SAR and the central government, while the latter supported immigrants and fought against the CCP.
The prosecution will call 5 witnesses
The prosecution also mentioned that the defendants actively participated in the fund and assumed different roles and responsibilities, including holding a press conference to explain the purpose of the fund, setting up street stands and raising funds during parades, and cooperating with each other to operate the fund. The prosecution will call five witnesses.
Some defense senior counsel questioned that the opening statement mentioned that the fund’s political philosophy is to walk with the protesters, and the content has nothing to do with the case; another defense representative pointed out that the police used the national security law to arrest the defendant and apply for a warrant to the court, some of the relevant evidence But it is used to investigate the non-national security law and question the unfairness of the authorities. Magistrate Yan Shunyi pointed out that this case only deals with the issue of the regulations of the society; he also pointed out that if the defense is worried about the case, it can apply for withdrawal of consent.
Originally published on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/local/612 Fund Unregistered Case Trial-Prosecution-Donation amounted to 270 million-Chen Rijun and others deny the charges/340250?utm_source=yahoorss&utm_medium=referral