Exclusive-HK's Apple Daily to shut within days, says Jimmy Lai adviser
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[June 21, 2021]
By Anne Marie Roantree
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong
pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut "in a matter
of days" after authorities froze the company's assets under a national
security law, an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai told Reuters on
Monday.
The closure of Apple Daily would undermine the former British colony's
reputation as an open and free society and send a warning to other
companies that could be accused of colluding with a foreign country,
media advocacy groups said.
Next Digital, publisher of the top-selling 26-year-old newspaper, would
hold a board meeting on Monday to discuss how to move forward after its
lines of credit were frozen, the adviser, Mark Simon, said.
"We thought we'd be able to make it to the end of the month. It's just
getting harder and harder. It's essentially a matter of days," he said
by telephone from the United States.
Vendors had tried to put money into the company's bank accounts but had
been rejected, he said.
The newspaper would stop publication on June 26 if a board meeting on
Friday decided to stop operations, an internal memo seen by Reuters
showed.
Apple Daily management could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The newspaper said on Sunday the freezing of its assets had left it with
cash for "a few weeks" for normal operations.
Chief Editor Ryan Law, 47, and Chief Executive Cheung Kim-hung, 59, were
denied bail on Saturday after being charged with collusion with a
foreign country.
Three other executives were arrested on Thursday when 500 police
officers raided the newspaper's offices, drawing condemnation from
Western countries, global rights groups and the U.N. spokesperson for
human rights.
Those three are still under investigation but were released from police
detention.
Hong Kong officials have repeatedly said that media freedom and other
rights will remain intact but national security is a red line.
Security Secretary John Lee told a news conference on Thursday the
police operation against the Apple Daily was aimed at those who use
reporting as a "tool" to endanger national security and did not target
the media industry as a whole.
China's Foreign Commissioner's Office said in a statement on Thursday
the national security law protected press freedom and warned "external
forces" to "keep their hands off Hong Kong". The office said press
freedom cannot be used as a "shield" for those who commit crimes.
The office of the city's chief executive did not immediately respond to
a request for comment on Monday. Beijing's chief representative in the
city, the Liaison Office, and the city's Security Bureau also did not
immediately respond to requests for comment.
'WE CAN'T BANK'
In May, Reuters reported exclusively that Hong Kong's security chief had
sent letters to tycoon Lai and branches of HSBC and Citibank threatening
up to seven years' jail for any dealings with the billionaire's accounts
in the city.
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A supporter holds a copy of Apple Daily newspaper during a court
hearing outside West Magistrates’ Courts, after police charge two
executives of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper over the
national security law, in Hong Kong, China, June 19, 2021.
REUTERS/Lam Yik
A Hong Kong-based spokesperson for Citibank said at
the time the bank did not comment on individual client accounts.
HSBC declined to comment.Authorities are also prosecuting three
companies related to Apple Daily for alleged collusion with a
foreign country and have frozen HK$18 million ($2.3 million) of
their assets.
Simon told Reuters it had now become impossible to conduct banking
operations in the global financial hub as authorities had "criminalised"
any activities with the company's accounts.
"We can't bank. Some vendors tried to do that as a favour ... and it
was rejected."
Reuters could not determine the banks where Apple Daily vendors had
tried to deposit funds only to have their transactions rejected.
Apple Daily said on Sunday it planned to ask the government's
Security Bureau to unfreeze the assets of the three companies. If
that did not work, it may challenge the decision in court, it said.
The paper has come under increasing pressure since owner and Beijing
critic Lai, who is now in jail, was arrested under the national
security law last August and has since had some of his assets
frozen.
A source with direct knowledge of the board's discussions said an
application had been made to the Security Bureau to ask Hong Kong
security chief John Lee to unfreeze the assets to allow essential
payments to staff and suppliers.
The company has about 600 journalists, according to Simon.
The U.S.-based adviser said some reporters had received threatening
phone calls from unknown sources.
"Our staff are now just worried about personal safety," he said.
Police have said dozens of Apple Daily articles were suspected of
violating the national security law, the first case in which
authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the
legislation.
Simon and the source said their understanding was that about 100
articles were under scrutiny.
"After all this is said and done, the business community is going to
look up and recognise that a man's company was gutted and stolen by
a communist regime in Hong Kong," he said.
"That's a big deal."
(Additional reporting by James Pomfret and Clare Jim; Editing by
Stephen Coates)
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