Overview
- A court filing released Tuesday seeks forfeiture of more than HK$127 million in cash, company funds, property and shares, with a High Court hearing set for July 8.
- The writ lists multiple bank accounts, several small factory properties and stakes in two private firms valued at about HK$71.3 million.
- Prosecutors filed the case under implementing rules of the national security law, which lawyers say allow broad freezes and confiscations in security cases.
- The request covers HK$12 million in bail and a HK$2 million fraud fine, even though those fraud convictions were quashed in February and the fine could be refunded.
- Lai, founder of the shuttered Apple Daily, was convicted in December of colluding with foreign forces and seditious publishing and received a 20-year sentence in February, a prosecution that critics say curbs press freedoms while officials say protects security.