Hong Kong
CNN
—
A Hong Kong court on Saturday sentenced imprisoned media mogul Jimmy Lai to five years and nine months in prison for fraud in a recent lawsuit against pro-democracy tycoons.
It turns out that Lai violated the terms of the lease on his now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper headquarters after hiding the operation of a consultancy firm that provided corporate secretarial services to private companies controlled by Lai.
In addition to the prison sentence, Lai was fined HK$2 million ($257,000) and disqualified as a company director for eight years.
Wong Wai Keung, the managing director and co-defendant of Apple Daily’s parent company, Next Digital, was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
In October, Lai and Wong were convicted of fraud in the same court. Both pleaded not guilty.
Lai, who has been in custody for almost two years, also faces trial under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security laws.
In response to large-scale anti-government protests since the national security law came into force in Beijing in 2020, authorities have cracked down on dissent.
Activists, protesters and journalists have been imprisoned, civil society has crumbled and many independent news outlets have been shut down.
Lai, 74, is one of Beijing’s most prominent critics indicted under the law and faces the maximum sentence of life in prison for collusion with foreign powers. He also had one count under the colonial-era sedition law, and in 2021 he was sentenced to 13 months in prison for participating in an unauthorized protest.
His pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily is one of the newspapers forced to shut down since the law came into force after police raided its newsroom and authorities froze its assets.
The Hong Kong government has repeatedly denied criticism that the law stifles freedom, instead claiming it has restored order to Hong Kong after the 2019 protests.
Hong Kong, a former British colony that came under Chinese rule in 1997, continues to use the common law system it inherited from the United Kingdom.
Its independent judiciary and rule of law have long been viewed as key to the city’s success as a global financial center.
The city’s legal system generally permits the placement of foreign judges in city courts, and lawyers from other common law jurisdictions can work where their expertise is needed.
However, cases under the national security law are being handled by a dedicated branch of the Hong Kong police force and designated national security judges, raising concerns about potential litigation implications in Beijing.
Lai was also at the center of the controversy.In November, Hong Kong’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling allowing British barristers to represent big shots in national security cases. Lee said he would then ask Beijing to determine whether foreign lawyers could work on national security cases.
