Lai 'was prepared to sink $400m into Apple Daily'

Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying had said he was prepared to lose HK$400 million to start Apple Daily in 1995, the court heard yesterday as Lai's trial resumed after the Lunar New Year holiday.

The trial of 76-year-old Lai at a West Kowloon magistrates' court continued with former Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man, 53, giving testimony as the prosecution accomplice witness.

The court was shown a video transcript of Lai's message to Democratic Party founding chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming that was sent on May 6, 2020.

Although Chan couldn't recall the video's content exactly, she said it was close to the daily's anniversary, during which influential individuals were invited to shoot videos to boost the paper's subscriptions.

In the video, Lee said Apple Daily had become a part of his life, while Lai emphasized the need for an independent and outspoken newspaper.

Lee said Lai had informed him about his intention to start a newspaper in 1995, and when asked why he had decided to do so before the SAR handover, Lai would only say it was a challenging task and that he was prepared to incur losses that, upon further questioning, he put at "about HK$400 million."

On May 8, 2020, Chan shared hyperlinks to the Patreon accounts of three commentators, Simon Lau Sai-leung, Stephen Shiu Yeuk-yuen, and Henry Chan Wan-hoi, with then editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee.

She said Lai had wanted to invite Lau to write commentaries, with Chan describing Lau and Shiu's writings as critical of the government and aligned with the pro-democracy camp and admitting she didn't know Henry Chan very well. The prosecution also presented a front-page advertisement from the print edition on May 4, 2020, which marked the 101st anniversary of the May Fourth Movement in China.

It featured red Chinese characters for "freedom" tilted over a white background, with the words altered to resemble a cage. A bilingual text accompanied the image, stating, "Freedom has become a crime. No turning back."

The next day, an article about people recreating the advert appeared in the daily's "Walls Have Ears" column, written by what Chan said were political reporters under a collective pen name, "Ba Fong," when writing political gossip.

The article's last paragraph mentioned that Lai had created his own front page A1 page, featuring a big red star above the heads of two persons, one elderly and one young.

They held a banner declaring, "Our rule of law and freedom were ruined, we now own nothing," accompanied by Lai's signature. Chan confirmed that the wording reflected Lai's stance and that it was indeed his handwriting.

On May 6, 2020, Chan messaged Lai, quoting former governor Chris Patten, saying, "My anxiety is this: not that this community's autonomy would be usurped by [Beijing], but that it could be given away bit by bit by some people in Hong Kong."

She said Lai had asked her for the "exact wording" beforehand. This quote was later used in Lai's column, titled "Swim or Sink, Smile," on May 10, 2020.

The hearing continues today.