Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai illegally ran consultancy firm at Apple Daily’s offices for more than 20 years, prosecutors say
- Lai and former employee Wong Wai-keung accused of illegally subleasing Apple Daily’s office space to Dico Consultants Limited in 1998
- Move enabled Apple Daily to earn at least HK$1.09 million in rent from Dico and allow the latter to evade land premium of up to HK$110 million, prosecution says
A District Court judge designated to adjudicate national security proceedings on Tuesday began hearing the allegations against Lai and a former Next Digital executive, after the pair pleaded not guilty last week.
Lai, 74, and former chief administrative officer Wong Wai-keung, 60, stand accused of illegally subleasing office space at Apple Daily Printing Limited to Dico Consultants Limited, a firm controlled by the media mogul, shortly after the newspaper relocated its headquarters in 1998.
The move had enabled the now-defunct publication to earn at least HK$1.09 million in rent from Dico and allow the latter to evade land premium of up to HK$110 million, Director of Public Prosecutions Maggie Yang Mei-kei said in her 30-page opening statement.
Yang referred to three land lease documents signed between 1995 and 1999, through which Lai borrowed a government lot in anticipation of moving his media group’s offices from Cheung Sha Wan to Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate.
Terms for the lease included a ban on using office space other than for the purpose authorised by the landlord – Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation – in Apple Daily’s case, “publishing and printing of newspapers and magazines and ancillary services”.
Between 1997 and 2019, the corporation received a total of 65 applications from Apple Daily for the operation licences of its 27 associate companies at the Tseung Kwan O site.