Haiwai.com reported on June 21 that the "Apple Daily" in Hong Kong will be closed within a few days, and whether relevant departments will ban the "Apple Daily" has aroused public concern.
The Secretary for Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Li Jiachao, said on the 21st that he would act in accordance with the law and that any legal empowerment would be considered.
The SAR government will continue to focus on cracking down on acts that endanger national security and cut off its financial resources when necessary.
According to Dagong Wenhui’s full media report, Reuters quoted Mark Simon, the leader of the disaster in Hong Kong and the assistant to the founder of Next Media, Li Zhiying, as saying that due to the company’s freezing of funds in accordance with Hong Kong’s National Security Law, the "Apple Daily" will Closed in a few days.
According to reports, Next Media related companies have been frozen by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’s Security Bureau of HK$18 million in assets. Apple Daily said on the 20th that Next Media plans to write to the Security Bureau to seek to unfreeze some of its assets in order to avoid violating "labor laws" due to wage arrears.
Li Jiachao, the director of the Special Administrative Region Security Bureau, said that foreign funds are packaged into funds, which are then used to fund crimes against national security or other crimes that violate Hong Kong laws, and even help criminals in Hong Kong to escape police arrests.
Li Jiachao said that the SAR government will continue to focus on cracking down on sources of funds that endanger national security. One of the methods is to freeze relevant assets to cut off the path of wealth.
As for whether the relevant departments will ban "Apple Daily", Li Jiachao said that he would act in accordance with the law, and any legal empowerment would be considered.
The National Security Service of the Hong Kong Police Force arrested 5 company directors suspected of violating the Hong Kong National Security Law on the 17th, and 5 people are being detained for investigation.
The Hong Kong police said that the five people arrested were Zhang Jianhong, chief executive of Next Media Group, Zhou Daquan, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Next Media Group, Luo Weiguang, editor-in-chief of Apple Daily, Chen Peimin, vice president, and Zhang Zhiwei, director of Apple's news platform.
The police stated that the arrested person was suspected of violating Article 29 of the Hong Kong National Security Law "crime of conspiracy to collude with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security."
The police also searched the arrested person’s residence.
(Overseas Net Yang Jia)