Overview
- The Old Bailey jury, which returned verdicts Thursday, convicted Peter Wai and Bill Yuen of assisting a foreign intelligence service, with Wai also guilty of misconduct in public office and both due for sentencing on May 15.
- Prosecutors said the pair ran “shadow policing” by posing as officers to surveil Hong Kong activists and UK politicians, including Nathan Law and Sir Iain Duncan Smith, with payments routed from the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London.
- Investigators said Wai abused Home Office databases to check people of interest and that a police sting in Pontefract in May 2024 exposed the network, though jurors deadlocked on related foreign‑interference counts and prosecutors will not retry them.
- MI5 and its National Protective Security Authority issued guidance warning UK residents about “transnational repression,” highlighting tactics such as surveillance, harassment and online smears directed by foreign states.
- The Foreign Office summoned China’s ambassador as the Chinese Embassy rejected the case, in a prosecution that tested a new law making it a crime to help a foreign intelligence service.