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The Hong Kong government has formally closed an investigation into jailed media mogul Jimmy Lai’s Next Digital, the parent company of the defunct newspaper Apple Daily, as the firm undergoes liquidation.
Headquarters of Next Digital, the parent company of Apple Daily, in December 2024. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.The government said in a statement on Wednesday that Financial Secretary Paul Chan had ordered the investigation to be terminated after deciding it was “no longer necessary” to continue the probe.
Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February on foreign collusion and sedition charges while six former Apple Daily executives were given jail terms of up to a decade in a landmark national security trial.
Alongside Lai, three Next Digital subsidiaries linked to the operation of Apple Daily were also convicted. The firms were later struck off the city’s Companies Register and declared “prohibited organisations” under the Beijing-imposed national security law.
The government also noted on Wednesday that Next Digital has been undergoing a winding-up process following a High Court order in December 2021, and that it was delisted from the city’s stock exchange in January 2023.
‘Isolated’
Chan, the financial secretary, said Hong Kong’s corporate governance regime remained “sound, efficient and aligned with international standards,” adding that companies in the city generally demonstrated high standards of corporate governance.
“The governance and financial problems of [Next Digital], as well as the unlawful acts committed by its senior officers exploiting corporate vehicles, represented only an isolated incident,” Chan was quoted as saying in the statement.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.The finance chief appointed Clement Chan, formerly managing director of accounting firm BDO’s Hong Kong branch, as inspector to probe Next Digital in July 2021. The investigation began weeks after national security police raided the company’s headquarters in Tseung Kwan O.
In September that year, Clement Chan submitted an interim report to the finance chief, who then cited “public interest” in ordering the winding-up of Next Digital.
Separately, the government is seeking to confiscate HK$127 million of Lai’s assets. The government has filed an application to the High Court and a hearing is scheduled for November.
The proposed forfeitures include 15 bank accounts under Lai’s name and the assets of 17 companies linked to the tycoon.
Jimmy Lai in 2020. Photo: HKFP.Lai’s jail term is the longest handed down so far for a national security offence. Lai did not appeal.
Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the 2020 and 2024 security laws. Watchdogs cite the arrest and jailing of journalists, raids on newsrooms and the closure of around 10 media outlets including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News. Over 1,000 journalists have lost their jobs, whilst many have emigrated. Meanwhile, the city’s government-funded broadcaster RTHK has adopted new editorial guidelines, purged its archives and axed news and satirical shows.
See also: Explainer: Hong Kong’s press freedom under the national security law
In 2022, Chief Executive John Lee said press freedom was “in the pocket” of Hongkongers but “nobody is above the law.” Although he has told the press to “tell a good Hong Kong story,” government departments have been reluctant to respond to story pitches.
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