Hong Kong Media tycoon Jimmy Lai granted bail

The media tycoon and pro-democracy activist, 73-year-old Jimmy Lai, who spent 20 days in police custody, has been granted bail by Hong Kong’s high court. Lai was detained on charges of fraud and foreign collusion.

Lai, the founder of Next Digital, which Apple Daily newspaper was released into house arrest on a HK$10 million bond on Wednesday afternoon. Lai has been asked to surrender all travel documents and has been banned from talking to the press, making public statements, using social media or meeting foreign officials. 

Lai and two other Next Digital Media executives have been accused of breaching land-lease terms by misusing Next Digital’s office space in Tseung Kwan O for other purposes. The space was said to have been subleased to a secretarial firm, Dico Consultants Limited, from June 27, 2016, to May 22, 2020, violating a 1999 land lease, enabling Next Digital to earn rent. The charges of foreign collusion on Lai were reportedly based on his tweets and interviews with foreign media. 

Lai’s release was ordered by a judge in the high court, who was appointed to oversee national security cases.  

Under the national security law imposed by Beijing, officials can book those involved in the Hong Kong protests on charges of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces to intervene in Hong Kong’s internal affairs.

Some of the alleged crimes cited by police occurred prior to the non-retroactive law coming into effect, including a tweet to Donald Trump calling on him to sanction Chinese officials.

Both cases are scheduled to return to court in early April. More than 30 people have been arrested under the national security law since it was imposed in June, mostly for political crimes.