'Jimmy Lai companies helped pay for newspaper ads'
The national security trial of former media tycoon Jimmy Lai heard on Wednesday that two companies he allegedly owned helped make prepayments for advertisements in foreign newspapers aimed at canvassing international support for anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong in 2019. Prosecutors presented receipts showing that “Lais Hotel Properties” and “Dico” – two firms allegedly owned by Lai – had paid for advertisements placed in multiple newspapers, including the Guardian, the Washington Post, and an Italian paper owned by RCS MediaGroup, in June that year. On his first day on the stand, prosecution witness Andy Li told West Kowloon Court that he had been involved in the advertisement campaign which originated as a discussion on the messaging app Telegram. Li said after he burned through his own savings to make prepayments for the advertisements, he was contacted by paralegal Chan Tsz-wah – another defendant turned prosecution witness. “He said he could ask some ‘uncles’ or other people to possibly come up with HK$5 million, and that I could find him if needed,” Li said. But the witness said he did not know the identities of these unknown benefactors, and only learnt later on that some of the payments were settled by “Lais Hotel Properties” and “Dico”.He added that he did not know any details about either company, nor did he give any information about any role played by Jimmy Lai. The witness testified that he later returned more than HK$1.5 million that was loaned to the campaign. Li – who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, is the fourth key prosecution witness in the high-profile national security trial. He is one of the 12 Hong Kong suspects who attempted to flee to Taiwan by speedboat in August 2020, before being intercepted by Guangdong authorities.