Jimmy Lai wins appeal against 2022 fraud conviction
發佈日期: 2026-02-26 20:57
TVB News
Former media tycoon Jimmy Lai has won an appeal against a fraud conviction.
The Court of Appeal overturned a 2022 ruling that found Lai guilty of breaching the lease terms of the Apple Daily's headquarters.
The government said the court's ruling does not change the fact that Lai misused public resources for private purposes.
The Department of Justice would consider filing an appeal.
The two appellants in the case are Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai and former executive Wong Wai-keung.
Neither appellant was in court.
They were accused of breaching the lease terms of the Apple Daily's headquarters, by concealing the operation of Dico Consultants, a consultancy firm directed by Lai, in the premises.
In 2022, Lai and Wong were found guilty of breaching the lease terms of the Apple Daily's headquarters.
Lai was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months imprisonment, while Wong was jailed for 1 year and 9 months.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, the Court of Appeal noted that under the common law, a contracting party generally has no legal obligation to disclose its own breach of contract.
Therefore, concealment does not constitute criminal responsibility unless it was made in breach of a duty to disclose.
Regarding the prosecution's argument that the lease imposed a duty of disclosure on Apple Daily Printing,the court found no such terms in the document.
The court noted that Apple Daily Printing was not the sole beneficiary of the deal, as the company invested 520 million dollars to construct the building.
The landlord, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Corporation stood to gain from the land appreciation.
The court found that the prosecution failed to prove why Lai and Wong owe a duty to the Corporation to disclose information.
The court concluded that the initial trial failed to properly evaluate the criminal intent, leading to the decision to quash the convictions.
While Wong has already completed his prison sentence, the 78-year-old Lai remains in custody for separate violations of the domestic National Security Law, which sent him 20 years behind bars.
Following the ruling, a spokesperson for the government said it is an undeniable fact that Jimmy Lai has been abusing Hong Kong's valuable public resources for over 20 years.
The spokesperson added the Department of Justice will study the Court of Appeal's judgment in the case to consider appealing the decision.
