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Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying requested another series of court orders seeking the return of materials seized by police during an hour-long raid on his office by national security agents on last thursday.
His company, Dico Consultants, took the police commissioner to Superior Court on Monday for boxes of documents that plainclothes officers from the newly formed unit took from its Millennium City office in Kwun Tong on October 15.
The search took place just hours before Lai appeared in West Kowloon Court for a separate case related to his presence at the banned vigil on June 4 this year commemorating the crackdown on Tiananmen Square.
The Next Digital founder had already requested similar court orders regarding the high-profile raid on the headquarters of his newspaper Apple Daily that took place after his arrest on August 10.
A law enforcement source told the Post that last week’s raid was related to the ongoing fraud investigation that sparked the initial operation.
Lai was arrested for alleged collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to defraud, in the highest-profile police action to date under comprehensive new security legislation imposed on the city by Beijing.
The Post later learned that the fraud allegations were linked to an investigation launched after pro-Beijing groups accused Lai of using Next Digital’s offices to provide secretarial services, which could amount to a breach of the land lease terms and provide false information to the Land Department to evade the rental.
The company is now seeking a court determination if the seized materials can be examined under a police search warrant, or if they are under the protection of legal professional privilege.
This privilege generally covers communications between attorneys and their clients through which legal advice is requested or provided, as well as all documents presented for the purpose of litigation.
The company’s attorneys are also seeking a court order to prevent the police from accessing, reviewing or making use of materials that fall outside the scope of the court order or that are protected, and that such items are returned to the plaintiff.
A search of the company showed Wan Chai-based Dico Consultants, a privately held company limited by shares, was incorporated in February 1988.
Its directors are Lai and his right-hand man Mark Simon, who was also registered as the company’s secretary.
The case has not yet been scheduled for hearing.
ANC, SCMP, South China Morning Post, Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong, National Security Law, Hong Kong
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