Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai warned he could face 10-year management ban after fraud convictions over use of Apple Daily office for consultancy firm
- Judge tells Lai, 74, that ban on direction and management of businesses could be in addition to jail time
- Lai’s counsel tells court at mitigation hearing that Dico Consultants set up at Apple Daily headquarters for ‘convenience’ and that no deliberate plan was involved
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying could face a 10-year ban on the direction and management of companies after his conviction for fraud over improper use of office space at his now-closed Apple Daily newspaper, a judge warned on Thursday.
Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi was speaking after pleas in mitigation for Lai and Wong Wai-keung, a former senior executive of the paper’s parent company Next Digital, were heard in the District Court.
He said that the publishing mogul could face the ban in addition to a jail sentence and confiscation of any illegal proceeds.
Lai, 74, was convicted last month of two charges of fraud after he was found to have covered up the operation of Dico Consultants, also controlled by him, from the newspaper’s headquarters in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate for more than two decades.
Dico’s operations were ruled to have breached the paper’s lease terms because the landlord, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, prohibited the use of the offices for anything other than publication and related services.
Wong, 61, was found guilty of one charge of fraud for his role in the deception since 2016.
The court earlier found the pair’s failure to seek approval for Dico’s operation was deliberate concealment which benefited Apple Daily at the expense of the corporation.
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Senior Counsel Derek Chan Ching-lung, who appeared for Lai, told Chan the tycoon had set up Dico’s office in the Apple Daily building for convenience and that the offence did not involve a meticulous plan or a breach of trust.
Chan highlighted that Dico had only occupied 646 sq ft of floor space – just 0.1 per cent of the area of the paper’s headquarters.
He emphasised Lai’s advanced years and that it was unlikely he would manage other companies in the future, as well as his contribution to the city as a media entrepreneur.
“Lai started Apple Daily in 1995, which gradually became Hong Kong’s bestselling newspaper. Apple has played a relatively significant role in the development of Hong Kong’s media,” Chan told the court.
He added Lai had decided not to submit any reference letters as mitigation, because he considered his background was already well-known to the public.
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Senior Counsel Maggie Wong Pui-kei, who appeared for Wong Wai-keung, submitted 19 letters written by his family, friends and former colleagues in the news company, which said he was a kind man and a role model for others.
She highlighted the defendant’s poor health and said he was assessed as having a higher risk of a recurrence of a heart problem. She added that her client had also battled depression and anxiety in recent years. She also reminded the court that the offence was not committed by Wong on his own.
The lawyer said on many occasions he had only followed instructions from his superiors, including those from then-chief financial officer and chief operating officer Royston Chow Tat-kuen, who was given immunity from prosecution after he agreed to assist in the cases against his former boss and colleague.
Chan adjourned the case until December 10 for sentence. Fraud is punishable by up to 14 year in jail, but capped at seven years in District Court cases.
