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HONG KONG, CHINA - A SECOND Hong Kong man has been arrested for spreading Internet rumours that a city bank would be shut down, police said on Wednesday, amid a jittery investor environment that saw a recent bank run.
The 18-year-old was arrested after he posted a message in an online discussion forum last Thursday that an unnamed financial institution was in trouble, the Hong Kong police said in a statement.
It follows the arrest of a 34-year-old man after he posted an item encouraging people to take out their deposits from an unnamed bank.
Bank of East Asia suffered a short-lived run from savers last Wednesday on the back of text message rumours that it was overexposed to assets backed by failed bank Lehman Brothers and troubled insurance giant AIG.
There was no indication that the second arrest was linked to BEA. Previous reports have said the first arrest was not linked.
The two men were arrested on suspicion of accessing a computer with criminal or dishonest intent, an offence that carries a possible jail term of five years.
The arrests come as the Hong Kong's stock exchange is experiencing extreme volatility on the back of worries over the state of the global economy, and the city's close-knit investment community is extremely nervous.
Police have arrested 11 people across the territory recently on suspicion of spreading rumours that AIG was about to sell its Asian subsidiary AIA Hong Kong. -- AFP
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