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 Jimmy Lai, 65, a self-made millionaire smuggled into Hong Kong by
boat as a child, has become one of the most influential magnates in
greater China, standing up to an increasingly assertive China and
pumping millions of his own money into a movement seeking democracy
for the former British colony.
His role as the main financial patron of the pro-democracy movement
since the territory's 1997 handover to Communist Party rulers in
China has come under growing scrutiny.
Lai stood by on Thursday as his home in an affluent avenue in Hong
Kong's Kowloon district was raided, a move some observers said was
part of an intensifying campaign to smother pro-democracy forces
seeking universal suffrage.
"There's no doubt it only makes us more determined. But that's all I
can tell," he told Reuters. "We will slug it through. Whatever
happens, it only toughens us up."
The early-morning raid came days before Beijing is expected to rule
it will limit 2017 elections for Hong Kong's leader to a handful of
pro-Beijing candidates, a move likely to trigger a showdown with
pan-democrats who are planning an "Occupy Central" campaign to shut
down the city's main business district.
The standing committee of China's parliament, the National People's
Congress, is due to announce its decision on Sunday.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a
statement it had searched three homes and the office of a lawmaker
as part of a bribery investigation.
A copy of a search warrant seen by Reuters gave permission for the
ICAC to look for items including bank and electronic records related
to payments or donations made by Lai to officials of the center left
Labour Party.
Over the 17 years since Hong Kong returned to China, Beijing has
ratcheted up its control despite promises to grant the city a high
degree of autonomy and eventual universal suffrage.
INTENTION TO "SCARE AWAY TYCOONS"
"Jimmy is more or less the only donor (for the democratic
movement)," said Martin Lee, one of the founders of the main
opposition Democratic Party.
"The intended effect (of the raid) is to scare all tycoons from
giving money to the democrats, and secondly to scare people away
from Occupy Central, and also distract our focus on democracy and at
the same time blacken the democratic camp."
Prominent pro-establishment figure and former Hong Kong security
chief Regina Ip, however, said she was confident the anti-corruption
force was independent.
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"People shouldn't read too much into the timing. There were
complaints made and we are talking about large sums of money," Ip
said, adding that any charges would play out in a fully transparent
and fair legal system.
Lai owns Hong Kong-based media company Next Media Ltd, which
publishes Next Magazine and the popular pro-democracy Apple Daily
tabloid, Hong Kong's second-most popular daily with a circulation of
around 190,000.
Apple Daily says its anti-establishment stance has resulted in
advertising boycotts, its website has been repeatedly hacked and
tens of thousands of his newspapers have been torched at
distribution points on several occasions by unknown parties.
Lai, in the latest edition of his Next Magazine, lashed out at what
he described as "state-level" hacking that gained access to his
banking records and other personal documents.
Lai says the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around
Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, spurred him to switch
from the garment business to newspapers and once dubbed former
Chinese premier Li Peng "a son of a turtle egg", a highly offensive
Chinese term, for his role in the killings.
Lai founded the casual wear brand Giordano in 1981.
Apple Daily has pursued an activist agenda since the handover and is
expected to play a vital role in rallying public support for the
Occupy Central campaign.
"Real democracy, that's what we're fighting for," said Lai.
(Additional reporting by Yimou Lee, Clare Baldwin and Diana Chan;
Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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