Update | Apple Daily head Jimmy Lai donated millions to pan-democrats, leaked files show
Leaking of hundreds of records is labelled as a smear campaign by those he backed
Hundreds of records detailing millions of dollars in donations to pan-democrats by the Apple Daily's founder have been leaked to the media, a move the camp slammed as a "smear campaign".
According to the 900 leaked files, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has donated more than HK$10 million to pan-democratic parties and politicians since last year. The donations included HK$5 million to the Democratic Party and HK$3 million to the Civic Party.
Other donations detailed in the files include amounts totalling HK$900,000 to the Hong Kong Civic Education Foundation and Hong Kong Democratic Development Network, both co-founded by Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, an organiser of the Occupy Central civil-disobedience movement.
Some media reports suggested the total donations since April 2012 could have been as much as HK$40 million.
READ: Poison and big business: Jimmy Lai's private life thrust into the spotlight in leaked files
Reports in pro-government media claimed that Lai - who is know for his critical stance against Beijing - had manipulated pan-democrats and was "colluding with foreign countries to provoke unrest in Hong Kong".