Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal is scheduled to deliver its judgment on 3 September 2026 in the appeal by five trustees of the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund against their convictions for failing to apply for registration or exemption under the Societies Ordinance. The case centres on whether the fund was a society regulated by the ordinance.
The trustees are Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, Ho Sau-lan, Denise Ho Wan-see and Hui Po-keung. The fund’s secretary was Shih Shing-wai. All six defendants were convicted at trial of one summons charge alleging that they had not applied to register, or seek exemption from registering, a society within the required period. Only the five trustees appealed; Shih did not.
The trustees were each fined HK$4,000, while Shih was fined HK$2,500. The convictions and penalties remain the trial court’s outcomes while the five trustees’ appeal is pending.
The prosecution alleged that the six acted as officers of the fund’s local society between 16 July 2019 and 31 October 2021, without making an application under section 5(1) of the Societies Ordinance within the specified period, Star Headline reported.
The appellants argued that the fund was a public charitable trust and that they genuinely believed it was not subject to the Societies Ordinance, according to Ming Pao. The Department of Justice argued that the fund had a defined structure, supported political groups and operated in a way that met the definition of a society.
The judge hearing the appeal also noted difficulties in treating the arrangement as a trust. Although the appellants had signed a trust deed, the fund had not received money at the time and its beneficiaries had not been identified, Ming Pao reported.
The appeal judgment is due to be announced on 3 September 2026 and is expected to take about 15 minutes. The court’s ruling will determine the next stage of the five trustees’ challenge, but the outcome—whether the convictions or fines will be upheld, overturned or varied—has not been stated.