Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s personal assistant authorised to receive about HK$14 million in crowdfunding donations, court told

West Kowloon Court hears money was to be used to help set up US trust fund to back international campaign against mainland China
The crowdfunding cash was said to have been passed on to Lai’s assistant Mark Simon and later moved on to US-based Project Hong Kong Trust

Hong Kong courts

Brian Wong

Published: 7:20pm, 19 Mar 2024

Why you can trust SCMP

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s personal assistant was authorised to receive HK$14 million (US$1.8 million) in crowdfunding donations to help set up a US trust fund in support of an international campaign against mainland China five years ago, a court has heard.

West Kowloon Court was told on Tuesday the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK) group had used former US naval intelligence man Mark Simon’s bank account to withdraw the US$1.8 million in donations to an American crowdfunding platform in August 2019.

The money was said to have been later moved to the Project Hong Kong Trust, set up in the US to avoid potential enforcement action by city authorities.

Detained activist Andy Li Yu-hin, a core SWHK member, said the group authorised Simon to be the recipient of the cash as the crowdfunding platform required the donations to be forwarded to an American citizen with a US dollar account.

Businessman Jimmy Lai, who faces two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces and one of conspiracy to print seditious publications. Photo: AP

Li, an IT programmer turned activist who appeared as prosecution witness, said Simon’s side had contributed around HK$3.5 million that month by making advance payments to a variety of overseas media outlets before being reimbursed with the donations.

Li continued to explain SWHK’s advertising campaign, designed to drum up international support for the 2019 anti-government protests in August that year, as Lai’s national security trial entered its 48th day.

Lai, 76, has denied 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-closed Apple Daily newspaper of financing SWHK behind the scenes in a bid to trigger international sanctions and hostile actions by the West.

Li was asked on Tuesday to explain Lai’s dealings with media organisations in Britain, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Japan and South Korea.

‘Group allegedly backed by Hong Kong’s Lai lobbied UK for action against Beijing’

The court heard LAIS Hotel Properties, a Canadian company said to be under Lai’s control, paid HK$1.47 million to Nikkei China (Hong Kong) for an advert in the financial publication headed “For Freedom’s Sake, Together with Hong Kong” on August 19, 2019.

The full page ad, published in the name of now-disbanded opposition party Demosisto, said the 2019 protests were a fight for freedom and democracy and warned Hong Kong was “on the verge of becoming a police state”.

It also appealed to the Japanese government to warn its people about visiting Hong Kong amid the continued “cruel violence of a police force supported by the Hong Kong and Chinese governments”.

Email correspondence suggested Agnes Chow Ting, who was a Demosisto standing committee member, was involved in the initial communications with the newspaper and that Li was responsible for payment.

Li also told a Nikkei staff member that he wanted to remain anonymous because of the “sensitivity of the subject matter” and asked the newspaper to “refrain from releasing said personal information to other parties”, including his fellow team members.

LAIS Hotel Properties also paid €18,500 to a Spanish advertising agency for the placement of an advert, titled “Catch Hong Kong as We Fall”, in the prestigious El Mundo newspaper on the same day as its Japanese counterpart.

Jimmy Lai trial told UK MPs visited Hong Kong to watch 2019 district council vote

Anthony Chau Tin-hang, for the prosecution, highlighted a similar advert published in The Globe and Mail in Canada, headed “Stand with Hong Kong until Dawn”, which appealed to the Canadian government to “recognise the crimes against humanity committed by the Hong Kong government and its police force”.

The trial was told the advert also asked for “diplomatic pressure on Hong Kong and Beijing” as well as sanctions and bans on arms exports.

Another advert published in The New York Times asked Americans to petition their senators and representatives to support a bill penalising Hong Kong officials.

Li confirmed the two adverts were part of the SWHK campaign, but added the same language was not used in all the promotional work.

“I think the only common ground was that they were all about supporting Hong Kong’s freedom and democracy,” Li said.

The trial continues on Wednesday.

Post