Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday refused to explain why police ordered banks in the last few days to freeze accounts belonging to self-exiled politician Ted Hui and his family.

Lam faced a barrel of questions from reporters about the legal grounds behind the suspension of at least five Hong Kong bank accounts held by the former Democratic Party lawmaker, his wife and his parents, all now in London.

The chief executive declined the media queries, saying her government and the banks would not reveal details of investigations into Hui.

Lam also took the chance to criticize Hui, claiming he had a bad track record of exhibiting deceptive behavior by “lying” to a Hong Kong court in seeking to flee the city.

She rebuted Hui’s allegations that Hong Kong financial institutions had failed to abide by the law when freezing the bank accounts belonging to him and his family, and accused Hui in turn of smearing these institutions. Earlier, the pro-democracy activist wrote in his Facebook page that the move would undermine confidence in Hong Kong’s banking and financial systems, and urged international regulators to look into the case.

Lam told the reporters: “If there is any damage to Hong Kong’s financial institutions, this individual is the culprit.”

Without naming Hui, she further said that her government was different from people who lacked credibility, in that it had to follow rules and regulations and to take action based on evidence and facts.

The chief executive also hit out at foreign governments that voiced support for pro-democracy Hong Kong activists.

“Lately, Western governments [have been thinking that] some people, as long as they are pro-democracy activists in these governments’ eyes, have protective shields and cannot be touched by law enforcement,” Lam said. “This is not what the spirit of a society with rule of law is.”

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