Pro-democracy Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) was yesterday sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for fraud, convicted of contravening a lease contract for the headquarters of a newspaper he used to run.
Lai, 75, was found guilty of two counts of fraud for covering up the operations of a private company, Dico Consultants Ltd (力高顧問有限公司), at the headquarters of the now shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, in what was ruled a breach of its land lease.
Hong Kong’s most prominent China critic, Lai has been behind bars since December 2020 and has served 20 months for unauthorized assemblies.
Photo: Reuters
He was the head of Next Digital Ltd (壹傳媒集團), the parent company of Apple Daily, which shut down in June last year after a police raid.
Another Next Digital executive, Wong Wai-keung (黃偉強), 61, was found guilty of fraud and jailed for 21 months.
Handing down the sentences, District Court Judge Stanley Chan (陳廣池) said the contraventions, which he called “organized and planned,” occurred over two decades and that Lai had used his media organization as “an umbrella of protection.”
Lai did not feel guilty about the moves, so there was no basis for the court to reduce his jail term, he said, adding that the prosecution of a media tycoon “wasn’t equivalent to an attack on press freedom.”
The judge deducted three months from Lai’s sentence as he had acknowledged much of the prosecution’s case.
Western governments, including the US, have expressed concern about Lai’s plight and condemned what they call a broader deterioration in protection for human rights and fundamental freedoms in hong Kong under the China-imposed National Security Law.
“Beijing’s elaborate criminal case against Jimmy Lai is a vendetta against a leading proponent of democracy and media freedom in Hong Kong,” said Maya Wang (王松蓮), an associate director at Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, which called for Lai’s release.
Prosecutors said that under the newspaper’s lease conditions on a plot of government land in a science park, the property could only be used for “publishing and printing” without prior approval from the operator.
Chan issued an order preventing Lai from becoming a director of any company for eight years and fined him HK$2 million (US$256,870).
A separate, landmark national security trial involving Lai is scheduled to resume on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by AP
NOT BUYING IT: One of the goals of Beijing’s Cross-Strait Media People Summit was to draw mainstream media executives to discuss the ‘one country, two systems’ formula Taiwanese news media insist on press freedom and professionalism, and would never become a tool of China’s “united front” campaign, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, responding to media queries about the lack of Taiwanese media executives at the Cross-Strait Media People Summit in Beijing. Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) was reportedly furious that no Taiwanese media representatives attended a scheduled meeting with him on Thursday last week. “Beijing should take Taiwan’s determination to pursue freedom and democracy seriously. We also hope that it will not use vicious means to interfere with Taiwan’s development into a
IMMIGRATION REFORM: The legislative amendments aim to protect the rights of families to reunify, and to attract skilled professionals to stay and work in Taiwan Foreigners who are highly skilled professionals, top-prize winners in professional disciplines, investment immigration applicants or have made special contributions to Taiwan can soon apply for permanent residency on behalf of their spouses and minor or disabled children after the legislature approved amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The amendments, which were proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan on Jan. 12, aim to attract foreign talent to Taiwan and encourage them to stay. They would take effect once they are signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The amendments involved changing 63 articles, making it the biggest
FIRST STEP: Business groups in Taiwan welcomed the deal, which does not include tariff reductions at this stage, as they called for the elimination of double taxation Taiwan and the US yesterday signed an initial agreement under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade. The agreement was signed yesterday morning by Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Managing Director Ingrid Larson in Washington, the Office of Trade Negotiations in Taipei said. The ceremony was witnessed by Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) and Deputy US Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi. Taiwan and the US started talks under the initiative in August last year, after Taipei was left out of the Washington-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. “The deal that will be signed tonight is not only very historic,
Beijing yesterday blamed US “provocation” for an incident last week in which a Chinese plane crossed in front of a US surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea. The incident came at a time of frayed ties between Washington and Beijing over issues including Taiwan and the shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US this year. “The United States’ long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China’s national sovereignty and security,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said when asked about the latest incident. “This
RSS