Jimmy Lai made major financial contributions to Hong Kong opposition and US political groups before national security law arrest, court hears

Prosecutors allege tycoon Lai paid combined HK$5.7 million to now retired Catholic leader Joseph Zen and former US deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz

Ninth day of trial looks at funding activities in alleged conspiracy to instigate international sanctions and hostile activities against mainland China and Hong Kong

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Jimmy Lai in custody in 2020. Prosecutors say the media mogul has “a long history of financing local and overseas entities with political backgrounds”. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 2:48pm, 10 Jan 2024Updated: 11:18am, 14 Jan 2024

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying made significant financial contributions to Hong Kong’s opposition camp and US political entities before his arrest under the national security law, including more than HK$5 million (US$639,900) to now retired Catholic leader Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and a former senior defence official in Washington, a court heard on Wednesday.

Prosecutors at West Kowloon Court presented the findings of a financial investigation into 76-year-old Lai and his associates over an alleged conspiracy to instigate international sanctions and hostile activities against mainland China and Hong Kong following the 2019 anti-government protests.

The 36-page report, signed by Senior Inspector Hung Lai-fan of police’s national security unit, said Lai had a long history of funding local and overseas political entities, transferring a combined HK$5.7 million from his personal bank accounts to recipients including Zen, former United States deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz and a conservative American think tank between July 2013 and October 2019.

The founder of the now-closed Apple Daily tabloid also reportedly funded opposition political parties by using bank accounts held by his right-hand man, former US intelligence agent Mark Simon, and local and overseas corporations under their control.

“Lai had a long history of financing local and overseas entities with political backgrounds,” said prosecutor Crystal Chan Wing-sum, citing the report, on the ninth day of the trial.

The court heard that beneficiaries included ex-legislator Au Nok-hin and the Democratic Party, Civic Party, Labour Party, League of Social Democrats and Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the organiser behind the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil.

All but one of the payments highlighted in Wednesday’s hearing were allegedly made before the Beijing-imposed national security law took effect in June 2020.