Andy Li gets into money end of Lai anti-extradition bill campaign

New information has emerged in the national security trial of Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying regarding his and his assistant Mark Simon's involvement in supporting activist Andy Li Yu-hin's anti-extradition bill advertising campaign.

Li, 33, who was among 12 people caught while attempting to flee to Taiwan in August 2020, testified as a prosecution witness on the 45th day of Lai's trial and revealed details about the campaign.

Li said an email he received from paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, who later became a prosecution witness, was originally sent by Terrie Lam, The Post's Asia-Pacific head, and had attached a payment slip from "Mark's end."

Li said he didn't know who "Mark" was at the time but was introduced to Mark Simon by Chan in September 2019.

The global advertising campaign took place from June 27 to 29, 2019, coinciding with the G20 summit in Osaka. However, there were discrepancies in the payment dates. The invoice from Taiwan's Apple Daily indicated that the payment of NT$1.2 million (HK$297,850) was processed on July 16, suggesting the newspaper had extended a credit period to Li.

Li clarified that he had agreed with Chan to handle the advertisement fee at Apple Daily Taiwan and assumed that Chan would take care of the payment.

Li received a payment notification requesting he settle the NT$1.2 million fee before July 5, 2019.

Eventually, the payment was made in mid-July 2019, following Chan's message instructing Li to pay the bill from Apple Daily Taiwan.

Li said the now-defunct pro-democracy party Demosisto was involved in getting adverts in the Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily.

The prosecution presented a payment record issued by Asahi Shimbun to Demosisto, amounting to seven million yen (HK$370,180) on June 26, 2019.

Li's bank account statement showed he transferred seven million yen the next day. While he wasn't certain about the specific Demosisto members involved, Li believed Agnes Chow Ting, the party's ex-deputy secretary general, might have been involved due to her knowledge of Japanese.

Li's testimony shed light on the involvement of Lai, Simon, and Demosisto in the advertising campaign, revealing their efforts to draw attention to Hong Kong's anti-extradition law protests.

"I guess it was [Chow] as she was the only one who knows Japanese," Li said.