At least 10 Hong Kong senior officials, government aides and their spouses are still paying off outstanding mortgages with several local major banks amid a growing possibility of the United States imposing a second round of sanctions, Apple Daily has found.

Banks and other financial institutions may face penalties if they provide funds for, or conduct business or transactions with, individuals sanctioned by the U.S. government.

So far, seven Hong Kong officials and four mainland Chinese officials have been named in U.S. sanctions for curbing the city’s freedoms and undermining democratic development, according to Washington’s announcement on Aug. 7. Solomon Yue, vice chairperson and chief executive of Republicans Overseas, has warned that a second round of sanctions will soon follow.

Victorwood Development Ltd., a company controlled by Freida Hui, wife of Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan, has a HK$21 million (US$2.7 million) mortgage debt in its latest annual return form submitted to the Companies Registry.

Hui’s company shifted the mortgage on a luxury residential apartment in an upper floor of Leighton Hill in Happy Valley to the Bank of China (Hong Kong) from Belgian Bank last August, the registry’s records showed. Victorwood had bought the unit at HK$17 million in 2002.

Meanwhile, Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui and his wife had two mortgages as of late August, both taken out with the note-issuing Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong. One was for a luxury flat in Kowloon Tong’s Parc Oasis bought in 2011 at HK$8.9 million, and the other for a second unit in the same housing estate bought in 2014 at HK$17 million.

Other mortgages held by officials as of late August involved a Sha Tin unit owned by Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip and his wife; a Happy Valley flat owned by Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau’s wife; and Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan’s apartment in Sheung Wan. The mortgages on Nip’s and Yau’s properties had been granted by HSBC, while that on Sophia Chan’s apartment was from the Bank of East Asia.

In addition, mortgages for properties owned by at least five government aides in the Executive Council, their spouses or their companies had not been fully paid yet, registry records showed.

They included Kenneth Lau, chairperson of the powerful rural affairs body Heung Yee Kuk; Tommy Cheung, legislator representing the catering constituency; and Martin Laio, legislator of the commercial constituency.

Earlier, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng put in a lump sum to pay off her mortgage on a property owned by her company. Commissioner of Police Chris Tang also transferred his mortgage from HSBC to the Bank of China (Hong Kong) shortly before the U.S. announced the first round of sanctions, which turned out to include him.

Some Hong Kong banks have made it clear that they will follow requirements under the U.S. sanctions by rejecting business dealings or transactions with the sanctioned individuals.

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