Global group allegedly supported by Hong Kong mogul Jimmy Lai set up trust fund in US, lobbied UK to take action against Beijing, court hears

Group advertised in various British publications calling for then-incoming PM Boris Johnson to hold China to its commitments made on Hong Kong, witness says
It also set up trust fund in US at suggestion of Lai’s personal assistant to retain US$1.8 million in crowdfunding donations, he adds

Jimmy Lai trial

Brian Wong

Published: 9:25pm, 18 Mar 2024

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An international group allegedly supported by media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying set up a trust fund in the US to avoid enforcement actions by Hong Kong authorities and lobbied Britain to confront Beijing, his national security trial has heard.

Detained activist Andy Li Yu-hin explained on Monday how the campaign, titled “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK), pushed for global action against China over the city’s crackdown on the 2019 anti-government protests.

Li said the group involving him and UK-based campaigner Finn Lau Cho-dik advertised in various British publications calling for then-incoming prime minister Boris Johnson to hold China to its commitments on Hongkongers’ democratic rights and freedoms.

The group set up the Project Hong Kong Trust in the United States at the suggestion of Mark Simon, Lai’s personal assistant and a former US intelligence agent, to retain US$1.8 million in crowdfunding donations, the court heard.

Andy Li testifies against Jimmy Lai as a defendant turned prosecution witness. Photo: Handout

“[He] wanted to avoid the money being kept in Hong Kong’s banking system as far as practicable to reduce the risk of the money being frozen,” Li, a defendant turned prosecution witness, told West Kowloon Court.

He added he was introduced to Simon by a middleman called “T”, who he later realised was paralegal Wayland Chan Tsz-wah. The pair first met around September 2019 during US Senator Rick Scott’s visit to Hong Kong.

Lai, 76, has pleaded not guilty to two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the Beijing-decreed national security law, and a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications under colonial-era legislation.

Prosecutors have accused the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid of financing SWHK behind the scenes to trigger international sanctions and hostile acts against Hong Kong and Chinese authorities.

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Mr Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang, one of three judges hearing the trial, suggested Lau was SWHK’s spiritual leader. Li agreed and described Lau, nicknamed “Mutual Destruction Bro”, as an influential figure on the popular LIHKG forum.

The witness added US-based astrophysicist Shirley Ho, also an SWHK member, had joined the group’s trips to Geneva and Washington to discuss Hong Kong-related matters with foreign politicians.

The court heard Li, an IT programmer turned activist, was involved in three crowdfunding campaigns between June and August that year in support of initiatives to publish political adverts in Western countries.

Prosecutor Anthony Chau Tin-hang highlighted an advert in the United Kingdom dated July 2019 showing a rumpled copy of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration and a caption: “Will Britain hold China to its promise?”.

The headquarters of the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper and its publisher Next Digital Ltd. in Hong Kong. Photo: Bloomberg

The advert alleged the declaration was breached as the Hong Kong government introduced an extradition bill to “allow dissidents in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China to face trial”.

It claimed police brutality against protesters and journalists had escalated under the aegis of a government that was “not accountable to the people”.

Britain “must uphold its historical, legal and moral obligations to Hong Kong” and impose sanctions on those “responsible for or complicit in suppressing Hongkongers’ human rights and freedoms”, it added.

Jimmy Lai trial told Hong Kong tycoon used political figures to back Apple Daily

Li confirmed the advert and similar editions had been published in The Guardian, as well as the New Statesman and The Spectator magazines.

He added Apple Daily paid SWHK HK$30,000 (US$3,834) to sponsor a newspaper exhibition held in August 2019 to explain to Hongkongers the group’s lobbying efforts abroad.

Without identifying Lai and Simon, Li said “the people from T’s side” made advance payments totalling HK$3.5 million for the group to settle publication fees.

He said SWHK spent a total of HK$6.3 million during the campaign in August 2019 to advertise in newspapers in countries such as the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

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