Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) yesterday said he was arrested on “trumped up” charges while also warning investors not to buy stock in his company.
“They’re trumped up. I can’t go further on the details,” Lai said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Before any evidence, they just claimed and presumed that I’m guilty. This isn’t the way the law is. I should be presumed innocent. We have never supported the independence of Hong Kong.”
The new National Security Legislation sends a “very negative” message to the international business community, he said, adding that Hong Kong’s pro-democracy resistance movement needs to exercise more caution.
Photo: Bloomberg
Lai is the most high-profile of the more than 20 democracy activists so far arrested under the legislation, which bars subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers.
The arrest drew calls among opposition supporters to buy Lai’s newspapers and stock in his company, fueling a 1,100 percent surge in its share price and prompting the market regulator to urge investors to “ exercise extreme caution.”
Lai, who owns the Apple Daily, warned investors not to buy his Next Digital Ltd media empire’s stock, because the company’s fundamentals do not justify its rally.
Moments later, the shares resumed their climb in Hong Kong.
“People with very little money just want to express their anger and express their support for our company,” Lai said in the interview. “Everybody bought a little bit. That became a lot of it and jacked up the price. I was telling people: ‘don’t do it, don’t do it, because you’re going to lose money.’”
Separately, Alphabet Inc’s Google said that it would no longer provide data in response to requests from Hong Kong authorities following the enactment of the legislation.
“As always, authorities outside the US may seek data needed for criminal investigations through diplomatic procedures,” Google said in an e-mailed statement.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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