Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai slapped with extra count of fraud ahead of trial over use of Apple Daily’s office space
- Hong Kong prosecutors accuse jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai of breaching land-lease terms for Apple Daily’s headquarters since 1998
- Lai and former executive’s case adjourned until next Tuesday to allow time for all parties to sort out disagreements over new fraud count
Lai, 74, and former chief administrative officer Wong Wai-keung, 60, initially faced a joint count of fraud for allegedly defrauding a government-owned enterprise by breaching the land-lease terms for their publication’s headquarters in Hong Kong over a four-year span.
But prosecutors opted to strike Lai with an extra count of fraud, as they alleged the illegal scheme had dated back more than two decades, after the opposition-leaning newspaper moved offices to Tseung Kwan O.
The pair were initially scheduled for a trial at the District Court on Wednesday, but Wong’s lawyers revealed they were still in the process of requesting further details from the prosecutors about the defendants’ roles in the alleged offence, adding they had taken issue with the wording of the charges.
Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi adjourned the case until next Tuesday to allow all parties to settle the matters in contention and prepare trial documents.
Lai, founder of Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital, was originally accused of improperly subleasing office space at Apple Daily Printing Limited to a secretarial firm over a four-year span between June 2016 and May 2020.