Adviser to jailed HK tycoon Jimmy Lai says Apple Daily to shut within days
21 June, 2021
Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut "in just a matter of days" after authorities froze the company's assets under a sweeping national security law, an adviser to jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai told Reuters on Monday (Jun 20).
Mark Simon, speaking by phone from the United States, said Next Digital, publisher of the popular Hong Kong newspaper, will hold a board meeting on Monday to go over how to progress.
"We thought we'd be able to make it to the finish of the month," Simon said. "It's just getting harder and harder. It's essentially a matter of a few days."
His comments signal the closure is imminent even after Apple Daily said on Sunday the freezing of its assets had left the newspaper with cash for "a few weeks" for normal operations.
The news headlines comes two days after chief editor Ryan Law, 47, and leader Cheung Kim-hung, 59, were denied bail after being charged with collusion with a foreign country.
Three other executives were also arrested last Thursday when 500 cops raided the newspaper's offices in a case that has drawn condemnation from Western nations, global rights groups and the chief UN spokesperson for human rights.
The three have been released on bail.
Simon told Reuters it had become impossible to conduct banking operations.
"Vendors tried to place money into our accounts and were rejected. We can not bank. Some vendors tried to achieve that as a favour. We just wanted to discover and it had been rejected," he said.
In an interview with CNN, Simon said: "Our problem at Apple Daily is not that we don't possess funds, we have $50 million dollars in the bank."
"Our problem may be the Secretary of Security and the authorities will not why don't we pay our reporters, they will not let us pay our staff, and they will not why don't we pay our vendors. They have locked up our accounts."
Last month, Lai's personal assets in Hong Kong and his media company shares were frozen.
Then on Thursday, Secretary for Security John Lee said a further HK$18 million (US$2.3 million) of Apple Daily's company assets had now been blocked.
"They are all orders from simply the Secretary of Security, we are facing a security agency we are not facing courts," Simon told CNN.
Simon is himself wanted by Hong Kong police on national security charges but left metropolis last year and has since relocated to america.
The newspaper has come under increasing pressure since owner and staunch Beijing critic Jimmy Lai, who's now in jail, was arrested under the national security law last August and has since had a few of his assets frozen.
Three companies related to Apple Daily are also being prosecuted for collusion with a foreign country and authorities have frozen HK$18 million (US$2.3 million) of their assets.
Source:
TAG(s):