Money can’t buy everything for Jimmy Lai’s filial son

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Sebastien Lai is the dutiful son of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, who is currently facing subversion and sedition charges in Hong Kong’s high court. Even while prosecution and defense lawyers prepare for their closing arguments, Sebastien plans to plea to the G7 world leaders to pressure the Hong Kong government into releasing his father.

But this is not possible during an ongoing trial, which so far has exceeded140 days of gathering evidence from prosecution witnesses and including 52 days of defense evidence from Lai himself.
Sebastien’s international legal team headed by Caoilfhionn Gallagher, KC, of Doughty Street Chambers in London, are fully aware of this, but still continue milking Sebastien for every cent he has by encouraging him to continue his one-man campaign. For Gallagher and her team, this is easy money by just arranging meetings with politicians who are always looking for any campaign to champion, senior government officials and like-minded organizations as well as newspaper editorial board meetings and Fox news. And with each meeting comes a press conference with great sound bites to appease the press and their coverage.

His campaign has no legal base, and Gallagher knowns that. While pleading that he’s not guilty, they have not offered any evidence to prove Lai senior’s innocence. Gallagher turned on a drama performance to gander support by claiming Lai was facing a death sentence in Hong Kong.
Canada now appears to be the focus for the Lai family which has substantial property developments in the southern Ontario region, including 12 hotels and 20 restaurants and spas. Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Tony Baldinelli said the properties were a significant driver of local tourism in Niagara on the Lake.

Reuters reported that before his arrest, Jimmy Lai was worth US$1.2 billion, so the family has money to burn seeking his release from custody. For Sebastien Lai, money is never a problem to pay the exorbitant legal fees plus expenses (flying around the world, first class hotel stays, transportation etc.) for the Gallagher team, the Canadian team and the Hong Kong team of barristers and lawyers.

With the G7 summit looming for Kananaskis, Alberta during the weekend, team Sebastien has ramped up its campaign to target Canadian politicians and G7 leaders. Social media sites, such as X, have been flooded with pleas for Lai senior’s release, even calling for his honorary citizenship to Canada.

The granting of honorary Canadian citizenship would put him on par with South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai and Tibet’s Dalai Lama who have received the award with four others.

The eight members of the G7 are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, US and the EU. China has not been invited. Eight other countries, including Australia, Brazil and India, have been invited as guests.

Hong Kong-born member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Canada, Jenny Kwan, said at a press conference on June 10 that said she has asked Canada’s immigration minister Lena Diab if she would grant Jimmy Lai honorary citizenship, but the answer was non-committal to “it’s a private matter.”

“Jimmy Lai has been a tireless advocate for human rights and democratic values. By granting him Canadian citizenship, our country would honour his extraordinary bravery and pursuit of justice,” said Lai’s lead Canadian counsel, Irwin Cotler of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (WCHR).

The WCHR organised a one-day event with a press conference. Canada’s prestigious Globe and Mail newspaper hosted an editorial board meeting with Sebastien and Gallagher to be followed by a Q&A public event. And other human rights organizations have also planned events during the week of the G7 Summit.

Again, barristers of law are misreading the law. They have totally ignored the evidence presented in the 146 days of Lai’s trial, or they have just not read it. Jimmy Lai’s evidence in his defence lasted for 52 days. The three judges hearing the case have adjourned the trial to August 14 for the prosecution and defence teams to present their closing arguments. This should take about eight days before the judges retire to assess their judgment.

At the end of the day the judges will pronounce their verdict, Sebastien will come out smelling like roses as the filial son and heir to the Lai legacy and Gallagher will rest on her laurels and her bank account, already worth about US$500,000, according to People AI, before she took on the Lai case.

Mark Pinkstone

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

Morgan Stanley’s former Asian chairman Stephen Roach, who last year infamously forecasted the death of Hong Kong, has changed his tune and now says Hong Kong is the driving force behind China’s economy.

It is far from over and Roach says that if he had to rewrite a piece on Hong Kong it would be that Hong Kong is experiencing a revival because of its Chinese characteristics, not in spite of it.

The admission by Roach is commendable in that he has admitted the error of his ways. But Roach is a businessman and a financier, not a politician. The lawmakers in the hallowed halls of congress and the senate remain in denial that Hong Kong is progressively moving forward and is a world player in the global economy, despite its size. They remain defiant in acknowledging the fact that our legal system is the same as theirs with an added benefit of bringing in foreign judges to ensure fairness of trials. But they are politicians, so admitting the truth is not on their agenda.

Roach has had a rethink about what he said last year, spurred on by the rift between US President Donald Trump and China and the role played by Hong Kong in combatting Trump’s bullying tactics. The city’s emergence as a bulwark against hostile US actions is strengthening the outlook for Hong Kong.

But Roach, being a typical American, still has a dig at Hong Kong’s national security law, which is very similar to the state and federal security laws of the US.

The city is being caught in the middle of the US and China rivalry, says Roach and Beijing’s intervention in the shape of a national security law is undermining Hong Kong’s political autonomy. These two elements continue to be concerns, according to Roach, who said Hong Kong is “now in China’s orbit completely from an economic, administrative and legal point of view.”

He added that the US-China conflict was more of an opportunity for Hong Kong than a threat.

“Hong Kong’s financial success may be determined more by its ties to China, and the impact that US pressures have had on forcing something closer to a full-blown financial decoupling between the US and China,” said Roach. “Hong Kong is in a position to benefit from that.”

Whether or not there is a financial decoupling with the US in the near future remains to be seen. But Hong Kong has always benefitted from its position in China.

The economist also believes that the conflict between the US and China is getting worse. “And Hong Kong — rather than getting hammered in the crossfire as I expected and wrote — may be benefiting from that, because of its unique position as China’s most important window to international finance,” he told Bloomberg.

Bloomberg also noticed in its report that the Hang Seng Index has rallied 16 per cent, outpacing the S&P 500, in which has little has changed. Share listings have raised HK$77 billion ($9.9 billion) in Hong Kong this year through May, the most since 2021, led by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. — better known as CATL – Roach’s original thesis for Hong Kong’s demise which he maintained throughout 2024.

In February last year, Roach wrote in the Financial Times that “Hong Kong is now over,” citing a sluggish stock market performance. He said “the wheels had come off” in 2019-20 when there were “massive pro-democracy demonstrations” against the proposed extradition bill and the introduction of the national security laws. He claimed that “the 50-year transition period to full takeover by the People’s Republic of China had been effectively cut in half.”

This, of course drew strong rebuttals from officials and politicians in Hong Kong and Beijing. But throughout the year Roach continued his rhetoric that Hong Kong was doomed.

It was the bullying tactics of Trump who changed his mind. First the trade sanctions, followed by sanctions on Hong Kong’s senior officials, then stripping Hong Kong of its special status that allowed it to be treated separately from China and then the scrapping of visas for students attending Harvard University.

Bloomberg noted that it’s not just in finance that Hong Kong may increase its edge. Policies by US President Donald Trump such as revoking visas for Chinese students and his assault on elite colleges such as Harvard may also drive human capital towards the city.

To which he responded, “Our loss is your gain,” he said of Hong Kong.