Lai’s shares in Next Digital Limited and bank accounts belonging to three other companies he owns were frozen on Friday.
Assets belonging to pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai were frozen by the Hong Kong authorities on Friday.
The Secretary for Security cited the ongoing national security law investigation into the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper in a press release on Friday.
Lai is currently behind bars awaiting trial on three charges relating to alleged collusion with a foreign country. He is also currently serving a jail term over a peaceful, unauthorised protest in 2019.
Lai’s shares in Next Digital Limited and bank accounts belonging to three other companies he owns were frozen. As of December 2020, stock exchange filings show that Lai holds 71.26 per cent of voting shares in the firm which owns the pro-democracy Apple Daily tabloid. The shares would be worth over HK$300 million as of Friday.
The Security Bureau press release said that “a person must not, directly or indirectly, deal with” the frozen properties.
