A national security trial in Britain that thrust the role of Hong Kong’s overseas trade promotion offices into the global spotlight has heard the defendant deny he was spying on prominent activists from the city and UK politicians on behalf of China.
Two years after his arrest, Bill Yuen Chung-biu took to the witness box last week and challenged the prosecution’s claim that he ran a “shadow” policing operation in the country, serving as a conduit for information about the activists while working as a manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London.
Yuen, a retired Hong Kong police superintendent, is accused of passing on surveillance requests from city authorities to co-defendant Peter Wai Chi-leung, who allegedly used his position as a United Kingdom Border Force officer to gather personal details about the activists using the Home Office computer systems.
Among the alleged targets was Nathan Law Kwun-chung, one of 19 overseas activists with HK$1 million (US$127,700) bounties placed on their heads by Hong Kong police.
“If I really did something illegal for my authorities, you would not be able to pick up such suspicious things here. I would not be dumb as that,” Yuen told jurors at the Central Criminal Court, referring to his alleged text messages with Wai concerning the activists.
Yuen and Wai were arrested in 2024 as part of a police investigation into a resident’s claims that debt collectors were harassing her. Two other former Hong Kong police officers were among the 11 detained.
The two defendants, both dual Chinese-British nationals, have denied charges of assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference under the National Security Act.
A third suspect, former Royal Marine and Border Force officer Matthew Trickett, was found dead 18 days after being released on bail.
The case focused attention on the activities of Hong Kong’s string of economic and trade promotion offices, which shoulder the major role of promoting bilateral economic ties around the world.
The 14 offices focus on such ties and do not conduct diplomatic engagement, as the city does not handle its foreign policy which is left to the mainland government.
Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu has denied his government was involved in any spying activity, pointing to a Chinese embassy statement that dismissed the charges as “the UK’s fabrication”.
Opening the trial in early March, prosecutors said Yuen had received a list of British political figures – including Sir Iain Duncan Smith, chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China – from a retired police officer and asked to gather details on their connections with activists and whether they were “causing disturbance in Hong Kong”.
Yuen told the court he reached out to Wai after the office was frequently targeted by protesters in 2021, because the assistance of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command was only occasional and inadequate.
He then started to look for enhanced security services. Wai’s background as a volunteer police constable, as well as running a security company, was a “perfect match” at the time, he said.
Wai was offered contracts to conduct physical security services. The jury was shown a video of a demonstration against Christopher Hui Ching-yu, Hong Kong’s secretary for financial services and the treasury, during his visit in London in April 2023, where his car was blocked by protesters, and Wai was sitting in the front passenger seat.
Yuen denied that these contracts included carrying out surveillance for the HKETO.
He added that he only found out that Wai, who had used a fake superintendent identification, was not a full-time official police officer but a Border Force officer after his arrest in May 2024.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson, KC, pointed out one message Yuen sent to Wai in September 2021, in which he asked Wai to take photos at a protest organised by Hongkongers in Manchester and “pay special attention” to the UK politicians who joined.
Yuen said this could help the office to avoid further engagement with those politicians to “prevent embarrassment” in the future.
Wai had sent information, including the phone numbers, addresses, and job details of protesters to Yuen on several occasions, including photos of activist Law and the number plate of his car, according to chat logs the prosecution presented in court.
Yuen also allegedly forwarded a photo of a male demonstrator to Wai and asked for information, with a reply from Wai saying: “Let me do some digging.”
He told the jurors that he was simply asking “out of curiosity” and denied that the photo was first sent to him by Hong Kong authorities.
He also said that knowing more about the protest groups could be useful to prepare for future demonstrations. When the prosecutor questioned how such understanding could enhance security for the office, Yuen answered: “Because you are not a police officer, you don’t have that police officer’s mindset.”
Yuen told the court that an intelligence operation, if there were any, would have employed someone with diplomatic immunity.
“They don’t have to hire a 66-year-old man to do it only to end up in such an embarrassing situation,” he said.
According to the prosecution, Yuen and Wai also participated in the “debt collection” operation in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, on April 30, 2024.
Metropolitan Police officers, conducting surveillance on a resident being harassed at her home, watched as a group of men tried to trick their way inside before forcing entry.
Officers intervened and arrested 11 suspects, among them Wai and Trickett and two other former Hong Kong police officers.
Their phones and records led investigators to Yuen, who was arrested at his London flat shortly afterwards, and prompted the wider investigation.
The prosecution said Yuen had “orchestrated a scheme in conjunction with persons connected with the Hong Kong authorities” to break into a residential address.
Yuen said that during a visit to Hong Kong he had introduced Wai to retired police officers who were trying to track down an alleged fraud suspect in Britain on behalf of a Chinese businesswoman.
He described the introduction as a simple job referral – Wai had indicated he needed additional work – and told the court that it had no bearing on any contracts linked to the HKETO or any request from Chinese authorities.
The defendant positioned himself as a “middleman” in the communication between his former colleagues and Wai, including passing on updates and images of the suspect in the alleged fraud case.
Records showed that Wai searched for the debtor and her family’s information on the Home Office’s computer system shortly after the calls with Yuen. He told the court these were coincidences and denied having instructed Wai to conduct such searches.
When challenged by the prosecutors about his vague responses during police interrogation, Yuen said he had no opportunity to gather his thoughts or refresh his memory of the incidents as he felt “lost” after his arrest.
Jurors heard that two of Yuen’s two former colleagues from the force, Cheuk Wing-cheung and Hornby Suen Wa-hing, were also involved in the “debt collection” and arrested by UK police in Pontefract.
They were released after nine days. Police had earlier told the court that no charges were brought within the required time frame due to the volume of evidence and the translation workload.
The court also heard that Wai’s involvement in surveillance work predated his relationship with Yuen by several years.
Wai said that after leaving the UK police force in 2019, he was contacted by a retired Hong Kong officer who instructed him to follow activist Law and former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung for a monthly fee of HK$50,000. Wai explained to the court it was for a documentary about overseas Hongkongers.
Yuen has concluded his testimony, and the trial is scheduled to run until April 21. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
