A Hong Kong appellate court has quashed Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s fraud conviction for operating a consultancy office from his now-defunct tabloid-style newspaper, Apple Daily, finding that the prosecution had failed to prove the media mogul had made a “false representation” or could be held liable for concealment.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, the Court of Appeal ruled that although Apple Daily had breached its contract by allowing Dico Consultants to operate from its premises, the prosecution had not established why the former media boss and another executive from the paper’s parent company should be held criminally liable.
