Andy Li charts money trail in anti-extradition bill ads blitz

Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's assistant Mark Simon helped activist Andy Li Yu-hin withdraw about US$1.8 million (HK$14.04 million) from a crowdfunding campaign in August 2019, the court heard yesterday on the 48th day of Lai's national security trial.

Li, apprehended while attempting to flee to Taiwan in August 2020 along with 11 others, was continuing as a witness for the prosecution.

Li and activist Finn Lau Cho-dik, also known as "Laam Chau Baa," had launched a campaign on the platform GoFundMe to raise funds for newspaper advertisements in global media outlets.

However, withdrawing the raised funds proved to be a challenge, as GoFundMe required a US bank account.

Paralegal Chan Tsz-wah sought help from Simon after another American failed to withdraw the sum, and Lai's aide was able to retrieve the funds.

Li also testified that the cost of the advertisement campaign amounted to around HK$6.3 million. Chan's party contributed HK$3.5 million, while Li covered the remaining HK$2.7 million.

Additionally, documentation revealed that LAIS Hotel, a Canada-based company controlled by Lai and Simon, paid 18,500 euros (HK$157,015) to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo on August 17, 2019.

Another email showed an invoice for 20.4 million yen (which was HK$1.5 million then) was sent to Agnes Chow Ting, now exiled, by Nikkei on August 14, 2019.

Li informed Nikkei the next day that Chan in Canada was responsible for settling the advertising bill. However, due to time-zone differences, the payment could not be wired before the advert went to print.

So Li made an advance payment of HK$1.47 million to Nikkei, which was subsequently refunded when Chan paid up.

Other advert payments saw 120,000 (HK$1.19 million) go to six UK newspapers, 164,000 kroner (HK$122,725) to Dagens Nyheter and Dagens Industri in Sweden, 48,000 euros to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Germany and 22 million won (HK$128,515) to Kyunghyang Shinmun.

All remittances were made via a Canadian firm, Meridian Credit Union.

Regarding an accounting statement for the "Global Newspaper Advertisement Crowdfunding Campaign" obtained from the web page of Stand With Hong Kong, an advocacy group launched in July 2019 with Li and Lau as core members, Li said it was aimed at informing the public about how the funds from the crowdfunding campaign were utilized.