Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai jailed for five years and seven months in fraud case

Hong Kong's media mogul Jimmy Lai, who founded the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was sentenced to five years and nine months on Saturday (December 10).Lai was found guilty of fraud in a contractual dispute and the district court also imposed a fine of US$256,850 (HK$2 million) for breaching land lease terms for the headquarters of a now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper.

The court said that the media tycoon played a significant role in the fraud as he helped to cover up the operations of a private company, Dico Consultants Ltd, at the headquarters of the newspaper he sued to run.

The 75-year-old is a prominent face, who has been raising his voice in support of Hong Kong's independence. He has been behind bars since December 2020 and has served 20 months for unauthorised assemblies.

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In his ruling, Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi wrote that Jimmy had "acted under the protective umbrella of a media organization". Chan also said this prosecution of a media tycoon "wasn't equivalent to an attack on press freedom".

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Chan, an arbiter approved by the city’s leader to oversee national security proceedings, wrote in judgement: "If a media organisation, representing the so-called fourth power, allowed a firm to occupy its space without authorisation to carry out its businesses, was it not that such organisation did so under the aegis of its reputation as the media?"

The West raised concerns about the way Lai was treated, but Chan stressed that everyone is equal before the law. The judge also noted: "[Lai] had acted under the aegis of the media … This was a fraudulent act which was planned, organised and spanning many years."

Jimmy Lai was the head of Next Digital, the parent company of Apple Daily, which was shuttered after a police raid in June 2021. Another Next Digital executive, Wong Wai-keung, 61, was found guilty of fraud and jailed for 21 months.

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