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
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
RSS