Hong Kong court hears Jimmy Lai’s finance chief approved payments to tycoon’s assistant without knowing where the money was to be spent

Royston Chow, former Next Digital chief financial officer, said he handed over millions of dollars to Lai’s assistant Mark Simon, but had no idea how it would be spent
Chow tells West Kowloon Court that Simon was also paid bonuses of between US$200,000 and US$300,000 a year for four years

Hong Kong courts

Brian Wong

Published: 8:40pm, 8 May 2024

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A former financial chief at Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s flagship media company has told a court he approved payments made to the tycoon’s assistant for personal “projects” without questioning their nature or what they were for.

Royston Chow Tat-kuen, a former Next Digital chief financial officer and chief operating officer, told West Kowloon Court on Wednesday he did not know what Lai’s assistant Mark Simon planned to do with the cash when he asked for money from the tycoon for his own use.

The court heard Chow received an email in April 2019 that asked for approval for Simon’s request for US$2 million from the tycoon’s personal bank account for an unspecified purpose.

Chow said he believed Simon, who formerly worked for US naval intelligence, had always obtained Lai’s approval before a request to release funds was made to him.

The West Kowloon Court trial of Jimmy Lai has heard his chief financial officer handed over millions of dollars to the tycoon’s assistant without knowledge of how the money was to be spent. Photo: Jelly Tse

“If it was stated to be [for] Mark’s projects, I did not have to ask,” the former top executive turned prosecution witness told the court.

“There were other projects related to Mark in the past where payments were also made to him, and Mr Lai did not raise any objection upon seeing the [financial] reports, so I felt he did not tell any lies.”

Prosecutors concentrated their questions on Simon’s role in what they alleged was a conspiracy orchestrated by Lai to collude with foreign forces to have international sanctions and embargoes against Hong Kong and mainland China imposed.

The 76-year-old Apple Daily founder faces two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the 2020 Beijing-imposed national security law, and a third allegation of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications under colonial-era legislation.

Simon, who was named as a co-conspirator in the case, was reported to have provided financial help on behalf of Lai to the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong,” (SWHK) lobbying group and backed efforts to encourage hostile acts by the United States after the national security legislation came into force in June 2020.

A 2019 cash flow chart showed more than HK$7 million (US$895,420) in “allocated funds” was paid to Simon between April and October 2019.

An email dated June 2019 showed Simon has asked for approval for “some payments to newspapers for various advertisements” on behalf of some “groups” which “cannot get their money transferred in time”.

The request was made to Linda Mendoza, an assistant financial controller at Lai’s private firm Dico Consultants.

Chow said Lai had given Simon the green light for a HK$5 million bridging loan to Andy Li Yu-hin, a key SWHK member, to support a publicity campaign that month.

But Chow said he was not involved in the endorsement of the loan request.

He explained he only received a copy of the emails for the compilation of monthly financial statements for Lai.

Prosecutors also referred to text message records that suggested Simon was awarded “year-end bonuses” from Lai, which ranged from US$200,000 to US$300,000, between 2015 and 2018.

Chow said Lai personally paid Simon, who had no official position with Next Digital, irrespective of corporate procedures.

He added he was unsure whether his ex-boss had made the bonus payments in light of his assistant’s job performance.

Chow was also asked to explain Apple Daily’s decision to publish a photo album called “Freedom Summer”, which recorded the major events during the 2019 anti-government protests, run an open letter calling for US intervention over Hong Kong and launch an English digital platform.

Chow agreed with earlier evidence given by ex-colleagues and said the moves were designed to drum up support for the protests, as well as trigger international sanctions.

Lai’s defence counsel is expected to cross-examine Chow when the trial continues on Thursday.

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