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Authorities have frozen HK$18 million worth of assets belonging to three companies affiliated with Apple Daily. Photo: Sam Tsang

Final edition of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily could come on Saturday

  • Board of directors at operator Next Digital wants the Security Bureau to unfreeze assets so employees can be paid
  • Without access to the funds, the tabloid could be forced to end its 26-year run as early as Saturday

Hong Kong’s embattled Apple Daily could be forced to close down and print its final edition as soon as Saturday if management is unable to convince the Security Bureau to release its assets to pay staff, the Post has learned.

Dealt a body blow by the latest arrests of its senior executives and freezing of its financial assets for allegedly breaching the national security law, parent company Next Digital will decide on Friday whether to continue operations, according to messages circulating among employees.

If the bureau rejects its request, staff will publish the final stories online just before midnight and print the last edition of the colourful 26-year-old newspaper on Saturday.

Media mogul Jimmy Lai is escorted to court in December last year. Photo: Winson Wong
Still reeling from the shock of the arrest of its editor-in-chief and four other top executives on Thursday, some employees vowed to keep working for the company until it closed down. But others said the board should make a decision earlier in the week so staff could know their fate, rather than be left in a state of uncertainty.
Editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kwong and publisher Cheung Kim-hung were charged on Friday with conspiring to collude with foreign forces and remanded in custody. The other three were released on bail without being charged, which some employees had interpreted as a welcome sign that not all was lost.

Authorities have claimed the tabloid published at least 30 articles calling for foreign sanctions on Hong Kong, an offence under the Beijing-imposed security law.

Founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is in jail serving terms on unrelated convictions and already faces multiple charges tied to the security law.

Apple Daily reported on Sunday its board was planning to write to the bureau to seek the release of some of the HK$18 million (US$2.32 million) in assets frozen, which it needed to pay the salaries of about 1,300 employees at the end of the month.

Legal experts pointed to a joint charge presented by prosecutors on Saturday at the hearing for the two executives that targeted three affiliated companies – Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited – as a source of concern for the future of Next Digital.

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Final edition of Hong Kong tabloid newspaper Apple Daily may be days away

Final edition of Hong Kong tabloid newspaper Apple Daily may be days away

The three firms whose assets had been frozen on Thursday would face a compulsory order to shut down and a fine if they were found to have colluded with foreign forces to endanger national security, they said.

Academics specialising in media doubted the bureau would agree to unfreeze the assets but also warned that closing Apple Daily down would sharply shrink the news landscape in Hong Kong. Western governments, including the United States, Britain and the European Union, have accused authorities of using the national security law to silence dissent.

The company admitted it only had enough cash to finance operations for a few more weeks, and according to the internal staff messages, the board of directors met on Monday to discuss the financial crisis.

“It has requested the Security Bureau to unfreeze [assets] and Friday is the deadline. The board will meet again on Friday to decide whether to continue to run this company,” one message read.

“If the board decides against continuing to operate, online [news] will cease uploading at 23:59 hours, and the newspaper’s operation will also stop after publishing the June 26 edition.”

The company would allow the resignation of employees to take effect immediately, without the need to give notice, amid staff concerns they might be targeted under the security law, according to the messages. But it was unclear whether workers who were laid off would receive any payment in lieu of notice.

Apple Daily has said that if the bureau rejected the request to release the funds, the company would file an application with the Court of First Instance seeking to revoke the order freezing the assets.

A journalist who had worked for the tabloid for nearly a decade said most colleagues had been “prepared” for the latest development, as they were deeply familiar with the company’s troubled finances.

“Those who were more worried about their reports having crossed the red line resigned earlier, while the rest might rather stay for a severance payment,” the employee said.

Senior executives preferred that the board reached a final soon so colleagues could receive the payout earlier, he said.

A journalist who had worked at the company for more than a decade said Apple Daily had completed its “historic mission” of serving Hongkongers and expressed hope that if the tabloid was forced to shut, the two detained executives might be able to avoid prison.

“If shutting down the company could save our chief editor and publisher from jail, I will definitely support the decision,” he said.

If Apple Daily is gone, mainstream media will be more tilted towards the establishment
Grace Leung, lecturer at Chinese University

Grace Leung Lai-kuen, a lecturer at Chinese University’s school of journalism and communication, said if the tabloid were to close, Hong Kong would lose one of the strongest defenders of the city’s moderate opposition voices and democratic values.

“If Apple Daily is gone, mainstream media will be more tilted towards the establishment,” she said.

Bruce Lui Ping-kuen, a senior journalism lecturer at Baptist University, warned shutting the tabloid would raise concerns over the free flow of information in the city, which was crucial to its role as a hub of global finance.

“The joint charge targeting the three companies also made things worse. If convicted, their operation could be suspended by authorities,” he said.

Pro-establishment lawmaker and lawyer Paul Tse Wai-chun doubted Next Digital would receive a satisfactory answer by the Friday deadline.

“Legally, the court and authorities have the discretion to consider a wide range of things. But when it involves national security, it might not be a legal question, but a political one,” he said.

The joint charge made it clear financial institutions should not handle any requests related to their assets or properties, he stressed.

Jimmy Lai asset freeze nothing to do with press freedom, says security chief

Brave Chan Yung, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, shrugged off the tabloid’s potential closure.

“Other media will replace its role in monitoring the government,” he said.

Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying urged Next Digital’s directors to make a comprehensive and transparent disclosure of the company’s financial situation to shareholders and said they had so far failed to fulfil that responsibility.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association urged the government to ensure that Apple Daily could pay its employees’ salaries.

Andrew Powner, who specialises in criminal law, said that typically a person or entity could write to the court seeking some latitude with its obligations to pay mortgages or salaries. “But you have to show that you don’t have access to any other sources,” he said.

Powner said paying new income into a frozen account should not be a problem, but a company would have to apply to the court to access it or ask the Department of Justice to allow for a separate new account.

A bureau spokesman reiterated that the security chief would follow the law in handling applications related to frozen assets.

Additional reporting by Lilian Cheng and Chris Lau

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Apple Daily faces closure by Saturday
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