Pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper halts shares after asset freeze

HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy media group announced it was halting share trading today, two days after authorities froze the assets of its jailed owner Jimmy Lai under a new national security law.
The announcement came the same day Lai – who is already in jail – pleaded guilty alongside nine other activists to “unlawful assembly” charges, the latest in a string of prosecutions brought against the city’s democracy movement.
Next Digital Limited – which publishes the Apple Daily newspaper – said it would halt trading “pending the release of an announcement” about Lai’s frozen assets, in a statement to the city’s stock exchange.
Hong Kong’s Security Bureau on Friday said it was freezing Lai’s shares in Next Digital as well as the contents of three of his bank accounts, using the security law which Beijing imposed on the city last year.
It marks the first time authorities have wielded the law to freeze the shares of a listed company’s majority shareholder – a step that could cause further jitters for investor sentiment in the business hub.
A rags-to-riches billionaire, Lai, 73, has long been a thorn in Beijing’s side thanks to his caustic tabloids and unapologetic support for democracy.
Apple Daily, the city's most popular tabloid, has staunchly backed Hong Kong’s pro-democracy cause, including the huge and often violent protests that swept the international financial hub in 2019.
Chinese authorities have made no secret of their desire to see Apple Daily shut down and Lai silenced. Hong Kong police chief Chris Tang has also accused Apple Daily of publishing “fake news”. – AFP, May 17, 2021