Former Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui, now in self-exile, called on financial regulators to probe the move by banks to freeze several million Hong Kong dollars in accounts belonging to him and his family, saying the decision was collective punishment in an effort to silence dissent.

At least five Hong Kong bank accounts — including ones at HSBC, Hang Seng and Bank of China — belonging to Hui, his wife and his parents were frozen on Saturday, shortly after the family arrived in London.

On Sunday, HSBC freed up accounts belonging to his family, and partially restored the functions of his one, Hui posted on Facebook. Still, Hui’s family decided to move their savings to another lender as they have lost confidence in HSBC, he said. The savings were all they had, Hui said.

The freezing of the accounts was an attempt to silence him through collective punishment, Hui said, adding that the government has failed to say what offenses his family is supposed to have committed. The move showed that Hong Kong banks can arbitrarily freeze accounts due to political pressure under the national security law imposed by Beijing in June, Hui said.

Regulators in Hong Kong and overseas should investigate the incident as it breached the protection of private property enshrined by the Basic Law, Hui said.

“The regime thought it could suppress dissidents by doing this. But it was ignorant of the fact that this would crush the world’s confidence in Hong Kong’s banking and judicial systems,” Hui said.

Hong Kong police on Sunday alleged Hui used his relatives’ accounts to manage money raised through crowdfunding, and accused him of colluding with foreign powers — a new offense created by the security law — and of endangering national security.

The money raised by crowdfunding had been held by a lawfirm, and audited accounts of the fund’s operations were open to the public, Hui said.

Last year, Hui launched a crowdfunding campaign to support private lawsuits lodged by pro-democracy protesters against Hong Kong police over their use of excessive force.

During a television talk show on Sunday, Police Commissioner Chris Tang accused Hui of using political persecution as an excuse to “run away” with his family after collecting a large sum through crowdfunding.

“When he comes back, [there] may be new charges to lay against him,” he said, adding that police would look into Hui’s crowdfunding campaign and whether he had made any false representations.

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