Paralegal Chan Tsz-wah took the dock in Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s trial on Friday, telling the court that he met Lai through the Democratic Party’s founder Martin Lee Chu-ming and Lai was willing to sponsor about HK$5 million in the G20 newspaper advertising campaign.
Today was the first day Chan – the fifth prosecution accomplice witness – testified in the West Kowloon Court as the trial entered the 59th day.
Chan told the court that activist Andy Li Yu-hin, one of the “12 fugitives’, said in the Telegram group chat under the username “RIP” in June 2019 that he needed money desperately to settle the outstanding fees for the advertising campaign after failing to retrieve the funding raised online.
Someone in the group chat then suggested contacting Lai or his friends to tackle the funding problem and provided Lee’s phone number. Chan later successfully contacted Lee and requested a HK$3 million loan, to which Lee said he would ask for Lai’s assistance.
Lee later gave Chan the number of Mark Simon, the personal assistant to Lai, saying that Lai had agreed to pay and he could contact Simon to handle the matter.
Chan said he immediately contacted Simon who said Lai was willing to sponsor no more than HK$5 million, adding that the advertising campaign matched with their political agenda.
Yet, there was one premise that the money must not be processed by any other people and Simon requested Chan to mail the invoices to his side to settle the bills directly.
Simon mentioned that Chan could first publish the advertisements on publications under Apple Daily and pay later. Simon also said Lai was willing to provide any form of assistance to support this kind of advertising campaign, according to Chan.
Chan then called Li and said “Apple’s Lai Chee-ying” was willing to sponsor HK$5 million. He also said Li could seek help from Lai or Simon in the future if necessary.
The court heard that Chan first met Simon in a hotel in Central in July 2019, during which Simon expressed great satisfaction about the results of the campaign. Simon also offered to provide support in terms of economy, networking and media connections.
Chan, wearing a gray suit, a blue mask and glasses, earlier told the court that he has a bachelor degree in law as well as a master’s degree in Chinese law. He had been working as a paralegal at a law firm since 2018.
The trial continues next Monday (Apr 15).
Hong Kong United Times丨香港聯合時報丨HKUT 