Hong Kong’s top leader piles up cash at home after U.S. sanctions

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she has to pile up cash at home as she has been unable to open a bank account in the global financial centre since Washington sanctioned her shortly after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city.

Beijing circumvented Hong Kong’s legislature and imposed a national security law on the former British colony on June 30, a move condemned by some foreign governments, business groups and rights groups.

Hong Kong and authorities in Beijing said the law was necessary to restore stability after more than a year of anti-government protests.

“Sitting in front of you is a chief executive of the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) who has no banking services made available to her,” Lam told HKIBC, an English-language news channel in the city, on a preview clip shown late on Friday.

“I’m using cash for all the things,” she said. “I have piles of cash at home, the government is paying me cash for my salary because I don’t have a bank account.”