A Hong Kong businessman living in Taiwan put up a US$1 million bounty to have media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and former Democratic Party chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming shot on July 1, a Shenzhen court heard last month.
In police evidence seen by the Sunday Morning Post, and which was presented to the court, two of the suspects on trial over the shooting plot named the Hong Kong businessman as its mastermind.
The pair - Tung Nga-man, 66, known as 'Brother Kam', and Chan Siu-ming, 60, known as 'Uncle Seven' - are among 10 defendants in the case. They were tried behind closed doors at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court on July 22.
The prosecution accused Tung, Chan and the third main suspect on trial, Yu Wai-shan, 62, known as 'Fat Yu', of being senior triad leaders.
The defendants were arrested following a police sweep after the arrest in Hong Kong of mainlander Huang Nanhua. The 50-year-old was stopped at a police roadblock in Mong Kok on August 14 last year and found in possession of a pistol, five bullets and personal details of the intended targets.
Last month the Court of First Instance sentenced Huang to 16 years in jail for his role in the plot against Mr Lee and Mr Lai. He was convicted of possessing a gun and ammunition with intent to commit an arrestable offence. A friend of Huang's, Hong Kong resident Ho Wai-kam, 50, was jailed for three years for smuggling a gun and bullets into Hong Kong from Shenzhen.