(ATF) Hong Kong authorities on Friday froze the financial assets of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai, including his shareholding in listed Next Digital under national security laws introduced recently into the financial hub.
Also among assets targeted were the local bank accounts of three companies owned by him, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security John Lee said in a statement.
Lai was sentenced to 14 months in prison for taking part in unauthorised assemblies during pro-democracy protests in 2019.
He faces three charges under a sweeping new national security law imposed by Beijing, including collusion with a foreign country.
The move against his assets was also made under the security law, which criminalises acts including subversion, sedition, collusion with foreign forces and secession with possible life imprisonment.
The decision by authorities to use the law’s powers for the first time to target a Hong Kong listed company could have repercussions for investor sentiment.
There have been signs of capital flight since the law was imposed last June, to foreign countries including Canada, according to government agencies, bankers and lawyers.
Beijing imposed the law on Hong Kong, a British territory until 1997, after months of pro-democracy protests in 2019.
However, critics say the law has been used by China’s Communist leaders to suppress freedoms and pro-democracy campaigners – scores of whom have been arrested and jailed, or have fled into exile.
The chief executive officer of Next Digital, Cheung Kim-hung, told the Apple Daily that Lai’s frozen assets had nothing to do with the bank accounts of Next Digital, and that their operations and finances would not be affected.
The firm’s employees pledged to continue to “uphold their duty and keep reporting”, in a statement posted on the Facebook page of Next Digital’s trade union.
Under Hong Kong stock exchange filings, Lai is Next Digital’s major shareholder and holds just over 70% of shares that were worth around HK$350 million ($45 million) based on Friday’s closing price.
In another development, the Taiwan unit of Apple Daily said on Friday it would stop publishing its print version, blaming declining advertising revenue and more difficult business conditions in Hong Kong.
With reporting by Reuters
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