An activist allegedly backed by media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying told a court he had never accepted money from him during a global lobbying initiative to trigger international sanctions against Hong Kong and mainland China.
Andy Li Yu-hin also said on Wednesday he had no direct contact with the Apple Daily founder before or after the Beijing-decreed national security law came into force in June 2020.
Li, who is testifying for the prosecution after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, gave evidence under cross-examination by Lai’s lawyers as the high-profile trial entered its 57th day.
The 76-year-old tycoon has denied two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications.
One of the collusion charges alleged Lai financed the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK) lobbying group and instructed its core member Li via a middleman to instigate economic sanctions and other hostile acts from the West in the aftermath of the 2019 anti-government protests.
The now-detained activist earlier told West Kowloon Court two of Lai’s private companies made advance payments for the group to run two overseas advertising campaigns in 2019, with the firms eventually reimbursed with money gathered from crowdfunding.
He said on Wednesday Lai’s personal assistant Mark Simon, a former United States intelligence agent, also handled millions in crowdfunding donations but did not sponsor the group in any of its lobbying efforts.
Lai’s defence counsel Marc Corlett asked whether Li and SWHK had received any money from the tycoon or entities associated with him after an advertising campaign ended in September 2019.
Li said he had not, but added Simon had once provided him HK$500,000 (US$63,850) in emergency funds for organising an election observation mission in November that year, a sum Simon was eventually repaid.
“For the sake of completeness, you did not receive any money from Mr Lai,” Corlett said.
“Never did I,” Li replied.
The activist also agreed with the defence’s depiction of SWHK as a “grass-roots crowdfunded advocacy group.”
He explained it was a loose and decentralised coalition of activists that supported Hong Kong’s freedom and democracy.
Corlett drew the court’s attention to an email Li drafted in June 2019 to request a bridging loan from people he believed were affiliated with “T”, paralegal Wayland Chan Tsz-wah, said in court to be the middleman between the activist and Lai.
Li in the email called himself “the de facto administrator/coordinator” of SWHK’s crowdfunding campaign and said the group was in need of HK$5 million to settle publication fees owed to a variety of newspapers as it could not immediately put its crowdfunding donations to use.
Detained activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung was said to be a volunteer responsible for monitoring SWHK’s operations, with a “James To” providing legal advice.
Li told the court he turned to “T” for help after he had exhausted his own financial reserve of HK$3 million. He added he believed at the time everything he did was legal.
Corlett also asked Li to clarify Simon’s role in arranging a meeting for him with US Senator Rick Scott in September 2019.
The witness agreed with the counsel’s claim Simon did not give any instruction or advice on calling for US sanctions or other hostile acts, including cessation of a mutual legal assistance protocol, but added he had suggested that Li explain what “motivates” frontline protesters.
The trial continues on Thursday.