Government must pay Jimmy Lai’s HK$855,000 legal fees after failed bid to block barrister from national security trial, Hong Kong court rules

Court of Appeal tallies up amount owed by city’s justice secretary, who had not contested earlier order to bear costs related to high-profile legal challenge

Lai’s case has been pushed back to September 2023, but still unclear whether Beijing will provide interpretation of national security law to clarify foreign lawyer issue

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Media tycoon Jimmy Lai has spent most of the past two years in incarceration. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 2:56pm, 21 Dec 2022Updated: 4:23pm, 21 Dec 2022

A Hong Kong court has ordered the government to pay HK$855,000 (US$110,000) in legal fees to jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying after the city’s justice secretary lost a high-profile battle to block a British barrister from representing the mogul in his national security trial.

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday revealed the amount to be paid by Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, who had not contested an earlier order that he bear the costs of Lai’s legal expenses in the proceedings stemming from the challenge to King’s Counsel Timothy Owen’s ad hoc admission.

The amount consisted of HK$511,700 related to the appeal before the appellate court in November, and HK$343,300 for the secretary’s request to take their grievances to the Court of Final Appeal.

King’s Counsel Timothy Owen (centre). Photo: Dickson Lee

The court said it would only require costs to be paid for two of Lai’s legal counsel, as the tycoon had failed to justify any “exceptional circumstances” that required him to engage four barristers in the proceedings.

The legal tangle dates back to October when the High Court’s chief judge allowed the London-based barrister to defend the 75-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper against charges of colluding with foreign forces.

That decision was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Court of Final Appeal, prompting city leader John Lee Ka-chiu to request Beijing to intervene and provide an interpretation of the national security law on whether foreign lawyers could be involved in cases covered by the legislation.

Speculation has mounted as to whether China’s top legislative body would step in, after it emerged that the interpretation was not on the agenda of its next meeting from December 27 to 30.