Alliance Assets Frozen, Govt to Wind Down Next Digital

Cartoons of Szeto Wah (left) and Zhao Ziyang taken by police

Even though the group that used to organize the annual June 4 candlelight vigils had already decided to disband, the national security police has preempted the process by freezing all the assets, including bank accounts, property such as the June 4 museum which totals to about HK$2.2 million (US$282,000).

On Saturday the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China had voted to disband in a majority 41-4 vote. However, today (Wednesday), the alliance's secretary Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong who is handling the group's dissolution, was notified by the National Security department that it had frozen its assets, including the museum in Mongkok.

Tsoi says the alliance's assets have been frozen

In early September the police had already raided the museum, taking away documents, computers, cardboard presentations, and even large cartoon caricatures of the late Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang and the alliance's late co-founder Szeto Wah.

Tsoi said he would submit a letter to the National Security department asking it to unfreeze the bank accounts and museum as the group needed to process winding-up procedures.

The police accusing the alliance of acting as a "foreign agent", an offence under the national security law, and sent letters to 12 members of the group demanding for more information about its member list, financial reports and activities, a request they refused to comply with.

What will happen? Maybe the alliance can look to what is happening to Next Digital.

Lai's company will be wound up by the govt

The parent company that used to publish Apple Daily is in a similar situation: its HK$18 million in assets were frozen, and now the Hong Kong government is looking to wind up Next Digital for jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has filed a petition to the Court of First Instance to liquidate the 40-year old company under powers granted by the Companies Ordinance and a hearing is scheduled for December 15.

"After considering the interim report, the financial secretary took the view that it would be expedient in the public interest that Next Digital be wound up, and therefore decided to present a winding up petition to the court," the government said.

Market regulator the Securities and Futures Commission also believes it is in the public interest to wind up the company based on its information.

Next Digital's assets amount to HK$18 million

A source said no one was left at Next Digital to handle its assets after key management personnel had resigned.

While a former desk editor at Apple Daily said about 1,000 staff members were still owed salaries, she wondered whether the mandatory winding up would allow the authorities to gain access to sensitive staff information, such as emails and minutes of board meetings.

"If this happens, I don't think the government winding up is a good move as claimed," she said.

 

Defiance, Resignation and a Sad Milestone

The alliance organized the June 4 candlelight vigil for 30 years

 

The national security police has demanded the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China hand over information about its membership, operations and finances. 

Chow (left) denies group is a foreign agent

However, this afternoon the alliance said in a press conference it would not comply with the letters demanding specifics about their activities and fundraising sources.

"We will not provide the information requested," alliance vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung said, accusing police of failing to explain why the group was being characterized as a foreign agent, and dismissing the demand for information as a "fishing expedition".

"The national security department... is setting a very bad precedent by casually labelling any civic groups as foreign agents and then asserting that they have the power to demand any information [they want]," she said.

Chow, who is also a barrister added: "[Police] did not mention any reason in the letters they gave us... Hong Kong is an international city, having foreign connections is most natural," Chow said. "If having foreign links makes you a foreign agent, everyone here is a foreign agent."

Apple Daily staff on last day, June 24, 2021

However the national security police was not pleased with the alliance's response and threatened fines and jail time for providing "false, incorrect or incomplete" information.

The Security Bureau also chimed in, saying: "The damage is serious.  Action must be taken to prevent and suppress the act," a spokesman said. "To avoid bearing the legal risk, the organization concerned should immediately turn back before it is too late."

Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong accused the alliance of having "no fear of the law".

"Since the day it was founded, the alliance included subverting state power and overthrowing the Communist Party's rule as its political goals. In the name of democracy, it has opposed China and caused trouble in Hong Kong," a spokesman said. "It didn't show any remorse for what it did in the past, and chose to resist and refuse the police's demand for information."

Directors thanked readers for their support

Meanwhile Next Digital's board of four directors will resign tonight in a bid to have "an orderly liquidation" to serve the best interests of shareholders and stakeholders including employees and readers.

In a statement released today, the directors say the invocation of the national security law affected the company and its people despite having no trials and no convictions. "Under this new law, a company can be forced into liquidation without the involvement of the courts," it says.

They hope the liquidation will enable funds be used to pay the employees who lost their jobs with Apple Daily and pay off creditors. 

Then they go on to thank numerous people, the shareholders, the businesses and service providers who placed ads despite political pressure, their journalists and staff, and the readers.

Lai currently in jail for litany of charges

"Most importantly, we thank the readers of Apple Daily. You put your trust in the work of our journalists and you understand that a free society and free markets depend on the free flow of information. 

"As Apple Daily often observed, Hong Kong people have a collective memory of what life was like elsewhere when freedom of speech was denied. No other rights are safe. In 2019 when Apple Daily launched its program of charging a subscription price for access to its website and mobile products, more than 500,000 Hong Kong people quickly subscribed out of the total population of 7.5 million -- by far the greatest penetration of digital subscribers of any news publisher in the world. 

"More than one million copies were printed of the final print issue of Apple Daily. Loyal readers reaffirmed Apple Daily's editorial commitment to Hong Kong values of the rule of law, open markets, greater democracy and individual opportunity."

The statement then adds: "We are confident that the company's founder, majority shareholder and former chairman, Jimmy Lai, would join us in these expressions of gratitude if he were able to communicate from his prison cell."

Remembering Spavor and Kovrig on 1,000th day

And speaking of prison, today marks the 1,000th day of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig behind bars in China. 

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau issued a statement saying: "Both men are being arbitrarily detained. We strongly condemn the lack of a transparent legal process.

"Years have been cruelly stolen from both men and their families. Despite this, they have shown integrity and courage throughout this terrible ordeal.

"We are inspired by their resilience as we continue to work tirelessly with our allies and international partners to do everything we can to bring them home.

He goes on to say: "Arbitrarily detaining foreign citizens is unjust and immoral. Sixty-six countries endorsed the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations earlier this year and call for an end to this practice and for the release of all individuals detained for diplomatic leverage."

The Deathwatch for Apple Daily Has Begun

Apple Daily just marked its 26th anniversary on Sunday

The end of Apple Daily is nigh. 

It may come as early as Saturday if the newspaper's management is unable to persuade the Security Bureau to unfreeze its accounts in order to pay its staff.

One wonders how prepared founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was for this possible scenario -- that three of Next Digital's companies would be caught in the national security law web, and the paper's editor in chief and publisher would be charged with colluding with foreign forces, like himself.

Lai with his newspaper when he started in 1995

Twenty-six years ago, Lai was a brash outsider who threw lots of money into creating a newspaper which shocked the media establishment. How could someone who made money selling T-shirts and jeans know how to run a newspaper?

He started off slashing the price of the paper so cheaply that one would be a fool not to buy it for a few days to see if they liked it or not. His newspaper war got him a lot of attention from critics and fans. 

The paper's colourful look was modeled after USA Today, and it was called Apple Daily as in the forbidden fruit in The Bible -- if Adam and Eve did not eat it, there would be no evil and news.

Soon the paper became known for its paparazzi coverage of celebrities, hiding in the bushes to get a shot of an actor or singer caught with their lover. Apple Daily was also an ambulance chaser, listening in on the police radio frequency to find out about car accidents and such and were usually the first on the scene to get gruesome photos.

The police raided the office again last week

Apple Daily was also a fierce critic of the government, and by extension China due to Lai's political leanings. In 2003 it encouraged people to go out to protest against Article 23 on the July 1 march, and in subsequent protests, such as the Umbrella Movement, and the against the extradition bill in 2019.

One of its popular supplementary publication was Eat and Travel Weekly. If it did a story on the best char siu in the city, it would collect 30 or 40 of them, put them out on the boardroom table each with a number next to them and they would try each and every one to give a broad range of opinions. Many followed that publication as the definitive guide to local eats. 

But by 2003 China and the Hong Kong government had enough. They began squeezing the paper financially by indirectly persuading advertisers not to put ads in the pro-democracy paper, even though it was one of the city's most popular papers. 

That resulted in Next Digital having to severely downscale its supplementary publications on entertainment gossip and food, making three separate publications into one magazine.

Last Friday's edition of the paper, 500,000 copies

Last August's raid on the paper and arrest of Lai was a huge blow not only for the company but a horrible signal that press freedom was seriously under threat despite assurances from the government that press freedom is still alive and well in Hong Kong.

Then things accelerated last week with a second raid on the company and the arrest of five executives. It has now come to the point where vendors cannot deposit money into Next Digital's accounts, resulting in the demise of the just turned 26-year-old Apple Daily.

When it is shuttered, it will be the ultimate sign that press freedom is dead in Hong Kong, that free flow of information has been cut, and free speech is questionable.

How can the Hong Kong continue to describe the place as "Asia's World City"?

Jimmy Lai's Assets Frozen

National security police have frozen Lai's personal assets

 

Around dinner time tonight the Hong Kong government announced the national security police have frozen nearly HK$500 million (US$64.3 million) in personal assets belonging to Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, the first use of such powers under the new law.

The frozen assets include all 70 percent of Lai's shares in Next Digital as well as his holdings in three other firms. 

Next Digital shares fell to 19 cents today

Based on the company's market capitalization of HK$490.3 million, Lai's 70 percent stake is worth HK$343 million.

The police issued the letter regarding the freezing of assets to Next Digital which publishes Apple Daily and its auditors of the move, which came at the end of trading day. Next Digital shares closed down 2.11 percent at 19 cents.

"Apple Daily will be published as usual tomorrow. Don't forget to get a copy," the paper's editor-in-chief, Chan Pui-man, wrote on Facebook on Friday.

Meanwhile chief executive of Next Digital, Cheung Kim-hung, reassured staff earlier in the week on Tuesday.

"We won't shut [Apple Daily] down because it is in a dangerous situation. No, definitely not, I can assure you this will not happen."

CEO Cheung says Apple Daily will continue

The latest news comes as earlier in the day Apple Daily Taiwan announced after 18 years it would stop publishing a print version of the paper, citing readers' consumption of news has changed, and continued operating losses due to low advertising revenue.

It seems Lai may have prepared for this moment if there are pledges the paper will continue to operate.

He is currently in jail, sentenced for 14 months for organizing and taking part in two unauthorized assemblies during the anti-government protests in August 2019.

Last December he was charged by the national security police for "colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security", a crime, if convicted can lead to a life sentence. He was indicted on two other charges last month.

One can expect a repeat of last August when lot of people woke up early to get a copy of the Apple Daily. For the average Hongkonger, this is one of the last ways they can support the paper, a proxy for the city's press freedom.

Expect a lot of people to buy the paper tomorrow

If and when Lai is convicted of breaching the national security law, his assets that are currently frozen, can be by law confiscated by the government. 

HK$500 million is no chump change...

HK Press Freedom Under Attack on World Press Freedom Day

RTHK contributor Bao Choy was convicted last month

 

Today is World Press Freedom Day and ironically press freedom in Hong Kong is under attack with the sacking of Cantonese-speaking RTHK journalist Nabela Qoser, and the publicly funded broadcaster is deleting stories and programs from the internet that are over a year old, signalling its opportunity to rewrite history.

Qoser, a Hong Kong-born journalist of Pakistani descent was known for her pointed, critical questions at government officials during the 2019 anti-government protests. But after complaints about her reporting, she was put under investigation and her contract was was terminated in January, and then she was put on temporary contract until the end of this month.

Qoser must leave RTHK at the end of May

In the investigation she was cleared of wrongdoing, but another probe was reopened last October.

And then it was discovered RTHK has begun deleting news stories and programs over a year old on its website and social media accounts.

RTHK claimed this practice was consistent with its policy, and documentaries from Hong Kong Connection and episodes from the axed satirical show Headliner were among the first to be taken down from YouTube.

Some Hongkongers are now rushing to save whatever is left on the RTHK sites to prevent them from being disappeared by putting them on a blockchain content-sharing platform.

"After [RTHK] was painted red by [director of broadcasting] Patrick Li Pak-chuen, all its contents will be removed from the shelves. To ensure history will not be forgotten, internet users have decided to upload the programs here," said a statement posted on an online platform called "SaveRTHK".

Lui says deleting programs against public interest

Bruce Lui, a journalism lecturer at Baptist University said RTHK may be the owner of the programs, but removing them from the internet is against public interest and a waste of taxpayer money.

"News is the first draft of history and also the public can look at it afterwards and learn what happened in the past. If we delete those records, it's sort of clearing the history so that the public won't have a very good picture of what happened," he said.

He noted many of the programs removed were related to the social unrest of 2019.

"The government and Beijing are trying very hard to create their own version of history, so they can have their mainstream definition and it will also take away embarrassment and wrongdoings of the government," he said. 

Screen shot of RTHK's deleted shows on YouTube

"In the future, people will only know the government's version, without knowing the civilian version of history."

How chilling is that? The authorities are attempting to whitewash what happened only two years ago even though people not only have other sources of news to look up, but also first-hand experiences of being in the protests. The government is basically negating their actions, or prosecuting them.

And on top of what happened today,  Hong Kong's press freedom index as rated by journalists has sunk to an all time low thanks to the government's imposition of the national security law last June.

In a joint survey by the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, 367 journalists were surveyed and gave the city's press freedom a score of 32.1 out of 100, even lower than the previous record last year of 36.2.

HKJA's chairman Chris Yeung Kin-hing warned "the worst is yet to come".

"The chilling effect of the national security law will become more prevalent and intrusive in every aspect of [our society]. I don't think there is any room for optimism," he told a press conference today, predicting the index would drop again.

Yeung worries HK press freedom will worsen

Up to 85 percent of the journalists surveyed said the government is the source of media suppression. 

A staggering 99 percent of all the respondents said the enactment last June of the national security law had harmed press freedom, with 77 percent saying the legislation caused "great damage". 

When asked to rate a list of 2020 incidents for their repercussions for the industry, 99 percent agreed the prosecution of RTHK contributor Bao Choy Yuk-ling was harmful to press freedom.

She was recently found guilty of knowingly making a false statement when tracing the ownership of vehicles that were apparently used to ferry white-shirted men to Yuen Long MTR station to assault people there on the night of July 21, 2019. Choy was fined HK$6,000 (US$772).

Then 98 percent of respondents told the survey the August 2020 raid of Next Digital's offices -- headquarters of Apple Daily -- also triggered a decline in press freedom.

Yeung was concerned the government may be shifting to follow the mainland, where the media is used as a propaganda tool for the central government.

Police raid of Next Digital last August

It certainly looks like RTHK is being muzzled and with the deletion of previous content, it is paving the way for recreating a new version of Hong Kong's history. This should ring alarm bells for anyone in the city and around the world about what is happening here and more attention needs to be paid to the situation.

But with everyone too busy fighting the pandemic, and bickering over getting vaccinated or not, Hong Kong's rights and freedoms continue to erode even further, making one wonder when they will bottom out...

Jimmy Lai's Letter from Prison

Jimmy Lai released a handwritten a letter from prison

 

Two days ago Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying released a letter to his staff that he wrote from prison.

In it the 72-year-old media mogul encouraged them to "stand tall".

"Freedom of speech is a dangerous job," he wrote. "Please be careful not to take risks. Your own safety is very important.

Lai is charged with colluding with foreign forces

"As long as we are not blinded by unjust temptations, as long as we do not let evil get its way through us, we are fulfilling our responsibility."

Since the offices of Next Media were raided last August, the media has been under greater scrutiny. RTHK is now being led by a government appointee who has cancelled many programs he deemed unacceptable, and one of its freelance producers Bao Choy Yuk-ling was on trial for allegedly misrepresenting herself when applying for license plate information related to the Yuen Long attacks on July 21, 2019.

Lai said it was "a journalist's responsibility to uphold justice, but observed the situation in Hong Kong had deteriorated.

"It is precisely this that we need to love and cherish ourselves," he wrote. "The era is falling apart before us, and it is time for us to stand tall."

The police raided Next Digital offices last August

Lai is currently in jail awaiting trial to face national security charges of "colluding with foreign forces". 

He was convicted earlier this month for illegal assembly in the August 18, 2019 protest, and last week pleaded guilty to another on August 31 the same year. Sentencing for both convictions is this Friday, where Lai faces a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

In the letter Lai said his life in prison was peaceful and he spent time reading books, praying and doing exercise.

Indeed. We all must stand tall. 加油!

Health Officials U-Turn on Media Briefings

 

The 4.30pm press briefings on the pandemic are held everyday

Ever since the first cases of the coronavirus were detected in Hong Kong in late January, the Centre for Health Protection in conjunction with the Hospital Authority have held a 4.30pm press conference practically everyday. 

And the CHP's head of communicable diseases branch, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, has briefed reporters almost every time, except for when her husband was in critical condition with a brain tumour last month, and then a few days after he succumbed to his illness.

Dr Chung has been a fixture at these briefings

She has been the steady voice reporting on Hong Kong's latest news on the pandemic, and for many, a reassuring face every afternoon, though she has lost her patience at reporters who ask her the same question five different ways, or has to explain over and over why she cannot give too detailed information about a case due to privacy issues, or there are too many cases to read out.

At some briefings, more senior officials are present, such as Under Secretary for Food and Health Dr Chui Tak-yi or his boss, Sophia Chan Siu-chee, when new measures are introduced.

It is these question and answer periods that can tease out more information from the CHP and HA, and in the case of senior health officials, making the government accountable for its decisions. 

At these press conferences, everyone wears a mask and surely sanitizes their hands before using the microphone to ask questions. Not one confirmed case has been reported transmitted from these media briefings.

However, late last night the Department of Health abruptly announced the 4.30pm press conference would be moved online, claiming it was a bid to minimize the risk of infection at the Department of Health facilities where the briefings are held.

Secretary for Health Dr Sophia Chan

This notice immediately drew condemnation from media outlets and groups who alleged it was intended to help officials evade tough lines of inquiry and undermined the public's right to know.

The new format of online briefings would have meant that media registration would take place an hour before the conference started each day, and reporters would have to send questions in text form. This meant the traditional Q&A session would have been eliminated, even though the daily sessions would be streamed online.

Seven media groups and outlets issued a joint statement late last night, including RTHK, Next Media and Ming Pao, that this online format would filter out sensitive questions, and that physically-attended briefings had taken place all year long, even when the number of cases were over 100. 

It also added since no infections were detected among the journalists from attending the briefings, then moving to online without consultation was unreasonable. 

"The government can screen out sharp questions with the move. Journalists will also face difficulties posing follow-up questions. This will seriously undermine the public's right to know and press freedom," the statement said.

The group was also concerned this would lead to other government briefings to be held online as well.

Director of Health Constance Chan

Meanwhile the Department of Health hit back, claiming there were a few confirmed cases in the centre last month and so it was important to take caution against group gatherings. 

Soon after the government made a U-turn and allowed the in-person briefings to continue as before, the reversal apparently made by the chief executive herself. 

This afternoon the Director of Health Dr Constance Chan Hon-yee was asked a number of questions from reporters regarding the flip-flop. She claimed another reason was that the audio wasn't working well, but once that was sorted the briefings would go virtual, but Chan was unable to explain why or when.

It's interesting the government did an immediate reversal of its decision to go online, though one wonders if virtual briefings may be forcefully implemented later, leaving reporters no choice but to work within the confines of the new format.

But it would give the public more reason not to trust the government, and as in my previous blog post, lead to resentment to fester further, and that could be unleashed one day...

Jimmy Lai Granted Bail

Jimmy Lai waves to an Apple Daily reporter at his home

The breaking news today that Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was granted bail was surprising considering he is being charged under the national security law. Most thought Lai's chances of ever stepping out of prison again were next to nil.

This development gives hope to three others charged under the national security law -- Tang Ying-kit, Tony Chung Hon-lam and Adam Ma -- to try to get bail too as now there is a precedent.

Lai walks out of the Court of Final Appeal...

Lai's lawyers were able to get a temporary release just in time for Christmas, but there are some serious strings attached to his home arrest.

He is not allowed to publish anything on social media, or publish any articles, not to meet any foreign government officials, take any media interviews, or host interviews. The newspaper tycoon also had to post HK$10 million (US$1.29 million) in bail, and three guarantors had to pony up HK$100,000 each. 

In addition Lai also had to give up his passport and has to report to the police three times a week and can only leave his home to attend court hearings.

Lai was remanded in custody since December 3 when he and two others were charged with fraud for allegedly breaching land lease terms on the use of Next Digital's office space in Tseung Kwan O. He was later charged with collusion under the national security law.

The Department of Justice immediately applied for a certificate from the court to appeal against the bail decision at the Court of Final Appeal, but this was later rejected by the High Court which said it did not have the jurisdiction.

... and into his waiting car to take him home

There was a lot of media attention around Lai's release, as reporters and photographers waited for hours for Lai to be released from the Court of Final Appeal in Admiralty. After 9pm a woman wearing police identification tags told reporters he wouldn't be released until 11pm so everyone disappeared for their washroom/food break.

But at 10.52pm Lai finally walked out with two plastic bags holding his personal belongings and was escorted by two men into his Mercedes Benz. About 20 minutes later cameras were pointed at the road coming up to his home in Homantin. Lai looked busy on his phone and wore headphones in the front passenger seat.

Afterwards he thanked the media for coming but said he had to leave and went into his house.

It turns out some of these conditions conditions of house arrested were suggested by Lai's lawyers, perhaps in a bid to get home home to his family for as long as possible.