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Prosecutors have accused jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai of paying two former US officials US$3.25 million (HK$25.3 million) to brief ex-Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen about Washington’s attitude towards the self-ruled island.
Prosecutor Anthony Chau said on Friday that Lai, 77, paid Jack Keane, a retired US army general, and Paul Wolfowitz, ex-US deputy secretary of defence, “at least” US$3.25 million to offer a two-year “consultancy” service to Tsai between 2017 and 2019.
The court earlier heard that, shortly after Donald Trump was elected US president in 2016, Lai had engaged Keane and Wolfowitz to advise then-Taiwanese president Tsai about the incoming US administration’s attitude and sentiment towards Taiwan.
Chau on Friday drew the court’s attention to WhatsApp messaging records dated July 29, 2018, in which Lai asked his aide Mark Simon about a remittance of HK$14.9 million to Canada for “special projects” in the US.
In response, Simon told Lai that the payment was for Keane and Wolfowitz, adding that “both Paul [Wolfowitz] and Jack [Keane] are very tax averse as such we pay them as requested via Canada.”
The payment was broken down as US$750,000 (HK$5.84 million) per year for each of the pair, a “gift payment” to Keane of US$250,000 (HK$1.95 million), and additional expenses such as “reimbursements for trips” and for a person named “Rupert,” according to Simon’s message.
In court, Lai said Rupert was a Taiwan expert who accompanied the pair on trips to the island.
But the tycoon maintained he had “no knowledge” of the US$3.25 million sum paid to the pair.
The founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed security law and a third charge of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under a colonial-era legislation.
He could be jailed for life if convicted.
Simon, Wolfowitz, and Keane are among several who have been identified by the prosecution as “agents” of Lai in the alleged conspiracy to request foreign countries to impose sanctions on authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing.
‘Do Taiwan more good’
The court heard that, in that July 2018 WhatsApp exchange with Simon, Lai said the US$250,000 gift payment for Keane was in fact an advance to help the ex-US general repay a loan.
Lai told the court he could not recall whether Keane later repaid the amount.
In another text message exchange dated July 30, 2017, Simon told the tycoon about one of Wolfowitz’s ideas to visit other territories in Asia as part of the consultancy service.
“Paul [Wolfowitz] thinks they can do Taiwan more good by also seeing Vietnam, Japan, and other allies… Target is 4 [to] 6 trips per year, but not all being to Taiwan,” Simon wrote in the message.
In court, Lai said it had merely been a suggestion and “never came to pass,” insisting that his agreement with the pair was confined to them visiting Taiwan.
Chau, however, pointed to another text message Simon sent Lai in November 2018, which suggested that the pair had visited Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Taiwan in three separate trips that year.
Lai appeared puzzled and said he had no memory of the pair ever telling him about trips to places other than Taiwan.
“I really have [no], absolutely [no] recollection that they made these trips, but that WhatsApp could be true,” he added.
The court also heard that Lai paid about NT$5.8 million (HK$1.37 million) to Antonio Chiang, who the tycoon described as Tsai’s “right-hand man,” between late 2017 and early 2020.
Lai told the court that Chiang was formerly employed as an editorial writer for his Next Magazine and Apple Daily divisions in Taiwan. But after Chiang began working for Tsai, he stopped writing articles for the newspaper, Lai said.
Prosecutor Chau pointed to an email dated March 2020, in which staff members of Apple Daily Taiwan appeared to suggest that Lai had instructed them to continue paying Chiang in 2019.
“I didn’t know that they were paying him… when I knew I asked why and I said immediately cut it,” Lai said in court.
The trial continues on Monday.
Lai has been detained since December 2020. Three judges – handpicked by Hong Kong’s chief executive to hear national security cases – are presiding over his trial in the place of a jury, marking a departure from the city’s common law traditions.
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
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