Jimmy Lai paid HK$13 million to former US officials, Hong Kong court hears

Former US general Jack Keane and ex-deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz received money for consultancy services for Taiwanese government

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Friday marked Jimmy Lai’s 28th day of verbal testimony in court. Sketch: Victor Sanjinez

Published: 7:13pm, 17 Jan 2025Updated: 8:38pm, 17 Jan 2025

Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying paid more than HK$13 million (US$1.93 million) to two former United States officials for their consultancy services for the Taiwanese government, a court heard on Friday.

Lai also said he had unknowingly paid NT$5.8 million (US$176,000) to a top aide of then Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen over a 27-month period, despite the man having already stopped writing for Apple Daily’s Taiwanese sister publication.

But the tabloid founder stressed that he had asked for the payments to be stopped immediately after the matter came to his knowledge.

Prosecutors examined financial dealings between Lai and political figures in Taiwan and abroad before Hong Kong’s national security law took effect in June 2020, as he pressed on with the 28th day of verbal testimony.

Lai, 77, is contesting two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces and a count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications.

Jimmy Lai said he was shocked to find out his company was paying a Taiwanese official for no apparent reason. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

The court heard that Lai had set up multiple meetings between Tsai, who led the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, and former American army general Jack Keane and ex-deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz after she rose to power in 2016.