Lai e-mails with Washington officials presented in court

E-mail records with US political dignitaries found in Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's mobile phone were among admitted facts read out by the prosecution on the seventh day of the Next Digital founder's collusion trial at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts.

The court was also told that chat records of Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man with Lai's assistant Mark Simon and Hong Kong Watch founder Benedict Rogers were found in Chan's phone.

The court was told that Lai's leading counsel, Robert Pang Yiu-hung, will be absent for two weeks. Barrister Steven Kwan Man-wai requested the court to keep the reasons for Pang's absence under wraps.

The prosecution said witnesses would give evidence after Pang returns.

Lai, 76, wore a brown leather jacket, a gray vest and a white shirt to court. The prosecution read out a set of admitted facts which was agreed on by both sides.

The admitted facts showed that police found on Lai's phone WhatsApp and Signal chat records, as well as e-mail records between Lai, Simon and several senior Washington officials, including retired army general Jack Keane and former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

Lai was also found using e-mails to communicate with Perry Link, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, Raymond Burghardt, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan, former publisher of Apple Daily English version Fung Wai-kwong, and former Apple Daily columnist Simon Lee, who managed Lai's then Twitter account.

The admitted facts included background information on Lai's three companies - Apple Daily, Apple Daily Printing and AD Internet.

As of October 2019, there were about 800,000 paid subscriptions to the digital form of Apple Daily, bringing a monthly revenue of around HK$37.5 million.

The prosecution also read out details of the defendant's arrest and his communication records through phone messaging applications, including WhatsApp and Signal.

After the discussion of both the prosecution and the defense, a total of 15 prosecution witnesses will be called, down from the previous 31.

Five will be accomplice witnesses, including Chan Pui-man, Apple Daily's former publisher Cheung Kim-hung, former editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee, Andy Li Yu-hin, one of the "12 fugitives," and legal assistant Chan Tsz-wah.

A former senior executive of Next Digital, Royston Chow Tat-kuen, who was arrested in 2020, will testify during the trial as an immunity witness, while Wang Guiguo, chair professor of Chinese and comparative law at City University will be an expert witness. Wang is the husband of pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun.

The prosecution will call eight police and Immigration Department officers to give evidence and will rely on the written testimony from Chow Kam-pui, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's Department of Computer Science.

Also presented in court were documents provided by Nikkei China (HK) Ltd to police pursuant to a Production Order in August 2020 showing that in August 2019, Chan Tsz-wah and Andy Li Yu-hin and a former member of now-disbanded Demosisto, Agnes Chow-ting, had multiple e-mail communications with the Japanese-based media outlet.

After the establishment of "Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong" in August 2019, the group continued to seek international sanctions against China and Hong Kong government officials.

On December 20, 2019, the group announced a recommended sanction list of 144 Chinese and Hong Kong government officials on its website.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com