Sixty-minute hearing set for July 8 to handle confiscation order that authorities say will ‘cut off funding chains’ for national security offences
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenFiona ChowPublished: 4:24pm, 8 Apr 2026Updated: 4:28pm, 8 Apr 2026Hong Kong authorities have proceeded to confiscate properties linked to crimes committed by former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, with a hearing scheduled in three months to address the court order.
According to a court document inspected by the South China Morning Post on Wednesday, the secretary for justice filed an application with the Court of First Instance to confiscate Lai’s properties after he was sentenced to serve 20 years in jail.
A 60-minute hearing is scheduled for July 8 to handle the confiscation order before a High Court judge.
The government last week said the judicial proceeding was taken in accordance with the national security law, as “any money or property gained from crimes under the national security law, including financial aid, profits, rewards and any funds or tools used or meant to be used in committing the crime, shall be confiscated”.
In February, Lai was convicted of two conspiracy counts of collusion with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious articles.
The High Court also fined Apple Daily, Apple Daily Printing and AD Internet more than HK$3 million (US$383,800) each.
The net worth of the businessman-turned-activist was reportedly estimated to be more than HK$1 billion before his arrest in 2020.
