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悪徳なNGOが香港暴動を扇動し、資金提供している
○ 複数のいわゆる「財団」とNGOが、暴徒らに、目的を果たすために過激な手段に出ることを奨励し、扇動している。そのため、香港の混沌を収束させるのがますます困難になっている。
○ 専門家らは、この混沌を終わらせて香港の秩序を取り戻すために、デモの資金調達者への取り締まりをもっと強化するよう求めた。
香港警察が不法な抗議者のファンドレイジング・プラットフォームを取り締まったことは、暴徒への違法な資金の流れを止めるよう求めていた中国のネット民から賞賛された。
混沌やデモが継続する中、この暴動を加速させているのに一役買っているのが、現地の複数のNGOだ。これらのNGOは、違法な過激派の抗議者に資金調達し、逮捕者への寄付金を集めている。
12月19日、香港警察は、オンラインのファンドレイジング・プラットフォームである「スパーク・アライアンス」のメンバー４人を、違法なデモ者への資金を募っていたとして、マネーロンダリングの容疑で逮捕した。
＜中略＞
香港警察はさらに、「スパーク・アライアンス」の資金と保険製品の900ドルを凍結させた。この合計金額は、その受益者には不釣り合いな額であった。この怪しい金融取引から、腐敗疑惑に対する批判が高まった、とある香港メディアは伝えた。
香港警察は12月19日、次のように述べた。
「これらの資金が、10代の若者に外出して市民暴動に参加させるための報酬として使われていた可能性も除外できない。」
「不法な暴動に貢献する組織の資金を凍結させることが、暴動を止めるために重要な措置である」、と専門家らは述べる。
＜中略＞
違法な抗議者への支援
2016年の旺角での暴動の後、逮捕者や収監者を支援するために設立されたスパーク・アライアンスは、過去半年間で約8000万香港ドルをクラウドファンディングで集めた、と警察は言う。スパーク・アライアンスはそのWebサイトで、起訴された者の弁護士費用や医療費の資金も募っていた。しかし、その資金の行く先は、不思議にも明細報告がない。
過去にもスパーク・アライアンスの財務報告書は非公開であったと、香港のニュースサイト hk01.comは報じた。
スパーク・アライアンスはそのFBのページで、逮捕された暴徒への寄付金や誕生祝いを求める投稿を頻繁にしていた。そして、これらの暴徒を、「無実の犠牲者」、「闘士」などと呼んでいた。
スパーク・アライアンスはマネーロンダリング疑惑を否定し、警察が自分たちを「中傷」しているとのだと述べた。そして、違法な集会や暴動に関与したとして逮捕された者たちへ「完全な支援」を提供し続けると述べる。
元香港特別行政区行政長官である梁振英は、警察のオペレーションを「大きな発見」、「大きな突破口」だと褒め、スパーク・アライアンスの資金源へのさらなる捜査を要求した。
文匯報（日刊新聞）によると、スパーク・アライアンスのメンバーは主に、「香港ナショナル・フロント」をはじめとする香港離脱賛成組織のメンバーであった。初期の頃には彼らは自分たちの銀行口座を持たなかったので、寄付金はすべて現金だった。そのため、一部のメンバーが「金融詐欺、虚偽の会計と横領」の罪を犯しているとの疑惑を呼んでいた。
香港メディアの報道によると、HSBCは先月、スパーク・アライアンスの使用していた企業口座を、活動内容が彼らの申告した営業目的と一致しないという理由で凍結させた。
スパーク・アライアンスの口座が凍結された後、HSBCはスパーク・アライアンスの信奉者らによってボイコットされた。口座凍結に関わったHSBCの職員に怒りの矛先を向けた何人かの過激な信奉者は、 これらの職員の個人情報をSNSで晒した、と北京日報は報じた。
初期の頃のオーガナイザーであった黃台仰は、逮捕されたときに６桁以上の金（日本円で1000万円）以上を現金で持っていた。うち多くは寄付金からであった。
グローバルタイムズが話を聞いた専門家によると、「自分は他者のために闘っているんだ」と自称するこれらのオーガナイザーらは、実際には混沌の中にまぎれて寄付金を略奪する傾向にあり、自分のためにお金を集めて、寄付金を不正流用する傾向にある。
批判は決してやまない
＜中略＞
外部の操り手
前回と今回の暴動に関与した香港の「人権」機関の多くは、香港以外の同じような組織とつながっていることが報じられた。
ハンガリー系アメリカ人、ジョージ・ソロスもまた、香港に一枚絡んでいると信じられている。ソロスは1998年のアジアの金融危機の際、香港ドルのアメリカの通貨へのペッグ（※経済的に関係の深い大国の通貨との為替レートを維持する仕組み）を壊そうとして失敗した後、1999年、ニューヨークを拠点とするオープンソサエティ財団(OSF)を設立した。オープンソサエティ財団は、香港を含む多くの国や地域の「人権」Webサイトに投資したとの報告書がある。
香港にはオープンソサエティ財団の事務所は存在しないものの、オープンソサエティ財団は前回の街頭デモの代表者らと密接な関係を維持している。オープンソサエティ財団は2015年、香港大学の法学部と、同大学の比較法および公法センターで活発であった。オキュパイ・セントラルのリーダーである戴 耀廷は、その両方の学部で働いていた、と「大公報」新聞は報じた。
さらに、香港外国人記者クラブ（FCC)はかつて、オープンソサエティ財団と黎智英に資金援助を求めたことがある。FCCは、オープンソサエティ財団に業務報告を提出している。オープンソサエティ財団とFCCとの間の連絡窓口であるトマス・ケロッグは、オープンソサエティ財団のミーティングにおいて、中国の外交政策を操作する計画を提案したことすらある、と「大公報」新聞は報じた。
Unscrupulous NGOs fund, instigate HK rioters
○ Some so-called foundations and NGOs encourage and instigate rioters to continue pursuing their goals in extreme ways, making it harder for the chaos in Hong Kong to end
○ Experts call for a more intensified crackdown on protest financiers to end the chaos and restore order in Hong Kong
Hong Kong police's crackdown on fundraising platforms serving illegal protesters was applauded by Chinese netizens who called for more efforts to cut illicit money flows to rioters.
Amid ongoing chaos and protests in Hong Kong, some NGOs there have increasingly played a role of accelerating street violence as they fund radical and illegal street protesters and call for donations to those arrested for violence.
On December 19, Hong Kong police arrested four members of Spark Alliance, an online fundraising platform that raises money to aid illegal protesters, on the charge of money laundering.
Some rioters vandalized and set fire to the HSBC Mong Kok branch on Christmas Eve after the bank closed Spark Alliance's account in November in adherence to its global standards. HSBC said Wednesday that it is "saddened and disappointed by the acts of vandalism" at its branch.
Similar organizations including "612 Humanitarian Relief Fund," "Justice Defense Fund," and many others have a record of scandal and financial misconduct documented by Hong Kong media. Experts call for a more intensified crackdown on these organizations' funds to restore order in Hong Kong.
The police also froze HK$70 million ($9 million) in Spark Alliance's funds and insurance products, the total of which was incommensurate with its beneficiary. The suspicious financial transaction triggered public criticism against its potential corrupt behavior, some Hong Kong media reported.
"We also do not exclude the possibility that the funds were used as a reward to encourage teens to come out and join the civil unrest," police said on December 19.
Freezing the assets of organizations that contribute to illicit violence is an important step in stopping violence, said experts.
These so-called foundations and NGOs encourage and instigate rioters to continue pursuing their goals in extreme ways. The agencies have made it harder for the region's chaos to end as quickly as possible, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University's Institute of International Relations, told the Global Times.Support for illegal protesters
Spark Alliance, set up after the 2016 Mong Kok riot to help arrested or jailed activists, had crowdfunded about HK$80 million over the past six months, police said. It also claimed to raise funds for legal and medical costs of the indicted.
According to its website, support includes free arrest bail and legal advice, in-court escorts and emergency medical assistance, visits and assistance to prisoners and their families, and re-employment after release. But the true destination of the money is mysteriously unaccountable.
In the past, financial reports of the alliance have not been made public, Hong Kong news site hk01.com reported.
On its Facebook page, Spark Alliance frequently posts calls for donations and birthday wishes for arrested rioters, referring to them as innocent casualties or "warriors."
In response, Spark Alliance denied allegations of money laundering and said police were "smearing" them, claiming it would continue to provide "full support" to those arrested for involvement in illegal assembly and violence.
Former Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying applauded the police operation, calling it a "major discovery" and "major breakthrough," as well as pressing further investigations into Spark Alliance's funding sources.
According to Wen Wei Po, the Spark Alliance members are mainly from some pro-secession organizations such as the Hong Kong National Front. Since there was no bank account in their early days, the donations were all in cash, drawing accusation that some of its members were committed to "financial fraud, false accounting and embezzlement."
Last month, HSBC closed a corporate account used by Spark Alliance after finding its activities did not match the business purposes stated by the client, Hong Kong media reported.
HSBC was boycotted by Spark Alliance followers soon after its accounts were frozen. Some extreme followers even directed their anger to HSBC staff involved in closing the account by exposing personal information of the staff on social media, Beijing Daily reported.
One of its early organizers, Ray Wong Toi-yeung, was found to have a six-digit amount of money in cash, much of it from donations, when he was arrested.
Those organizers claiming to struggle for others are likely to plunder donations amid the chaos, and take the chances to collect money for themselves or misuse the donations, according to experts reached by the Global Times.Criticism never stops
Other similar institutions include the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, another NGO with the specific goal of raising funds for the anti-extradition bill riots since it was established on June 15.
Its money mainly flows toward providing legal, medical, psychological and financial support to rioters who claimed to be injured or arrested in the riots, according to a report by the Beijing Daily.
With influential Hong Kong separatists and activists such as Denise Ho Wan-see, Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, Hui Po-keung and Ho Sau-lan as its temporary trustees, the fund has raised more than HK$97 million by the end of November, according to its financial briefing released online, Hong Kong news website hk01.com reported on December 19.
The fund also received large amount of money from the Apple Daily, founded by Lai Chee-ying, regarded by many as a traitor who seeks to separate Hong Kong from China.
According to its work report, the fund has provided for 1,845 rioters.
The fund calls itself backup for rioters. But when rioters sought legal aid from the fund, it told them to apply for governmental legal aid and claimed on its social media account that the funds raised were running out since a violent riot costs at least HK$1.8 million for attorney fees, the Ta Kung Pao reported on December 13.
The report said that the claim caused conflicts among rioters.
The fund was also reported as charging high administrative fees to support its own employees. There are also problems with its so-called legal aid. For example, their attorneys reportedly picked "clients," and some rioters said they had been treated indifferently by the fund.
Leung Yik-ting, Central Committee member at Democratic Party of Hong Kong, criticized the fund on her Facebook account on December 10 for poor accountability and treating applicants differently.
The fund later released a statement saying that it will support rioters to get access to legal service in the entire legal process but remained silent on the accusations of treating applicants differently.
Some rioters commented on the statement with disappointment with the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, saying that "donating money is the worst decision I've ever made."
To efficiently diffuse the street chaos in Hong Kong requires authorities and the police to keep tracking and cracking down on the institutions giving support to illegal protesters, Li said.
"Hong Kong police have to be prepared for a long struggle with these institutions, to cut off their resources, effectively ease the chaos and reverse an unhealthy political ecology", Li added.
Many of the "human rights" institutions in Hong Kong that played a role in the previous and current riots were often reportedly linked to similar organizations outside Hong Kong.
George Soros, a Hungarian-American businessman, is also believed to have a hand in Hong Kong. After he tried and failed to break Hong Kong dollar's peg to the US currency during the Asian financial crisis in 1998, Soros founded the Open Society Foundations (OSF) based in New York, in 1999. A report shows that OSF invested in multiple "human rights" websites in many countries and regions including Hong Kong.
Despite there being no office in Hong Kong, the OSF keeps close ties with some Hong Kong representatives from previous street protests. The OSF was active in Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong and the university's Center for Comparative and Public Law in 2015, and Occupy Central leader Tai Yiu-ting worked in both departments, the Ta Kung Pao reported.
Additionally, the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC), Hong Kong, once sought financial aid from the OSF and Lai Chee-ying. The FCC submits work reports to the OSF. Thomas Kellogg, a liaison between the OSF and FCC, even once proposed a plan to manipulate China's diplomatic policy at a meeting of OSF, reported the Ta Kung Pao.
