Hong Kong media tycoon Lai unaware of Biden dossier
A top aide to Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has admitted he helped fund a contentious report alleging links between Joe Biden's son and China. He, however, insisted his boss did not know about it.
Senior aide Mark Simon on Sunday stepped down from his post
at Apple Daily after the admission.
The 64-page document by a fictitious author, which was
circulated online and seized on by US President Donald Trump's supporters,
alleged business connections between Hunter Biden and China.
Investigations in recent days, however, raised questions
about its veracity and how it was compiled.
In a series of tweets over the weekend Lai said senior aide
Mark Simon, a vocal critic of Biden, had "worked with the project".
"Mark used my private company's money to reimburse for the research he
requested. It's only US$10,000 so he didn't have to have my approval," Lai
wrote.
"I know it is hard for anyone to believe that I didn't
know about it and my integrity is damaged," he added.
Lai was one of the first people to be arrested under a new
national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June following last
year's pro-democracy protests.
Lai has long been a thorn in the side of Beijing and has
spoken favourably of Trump's willingness to confront China. His Apple Daily
newspapers and Next Magazine are unashamedly pro-democracy and he is routinely
villified by China's state media.
According to AFP, Simon Sunday said he acted in his own
capacity in paying for some of the research that ended up in the dossier.
"Apple Daily had nothing to do with the report and
certainly Mr. Lai has nothing to do with it," he said.
"All were completely unaware of me helping out with
expenses of research."
Earlier on Friday, NBC published an investigation saying the
64-page dossier had "questionable authorship and anonymous sourcing".
The investigation found the listed author, a supposed Swiss security analyst
called Martin Aspen, was a fabricated identity and that his picture had been
created using software.
According to NBC, blogger and academic Christopher Balding,
a former associate professor at Fulbright University Vietnam, said he had
contributed to the report and admitted Aspen did not exist. He said the report
was was "commissioned by Apple Daily", Lai's staunchly pro-democracy
and anti-Beijing newspaper in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The paper denied that characterisation, as did Simon.
"I nor anyone at Apple did anything in terms of
research or writing, just no role whatsoever.
All arms length," he said.
"$10k is well within my discretion, but putting Apple
people and Jimmy in the firing line was wrong. I was far too casual with using
Apple Daily name, I abused the trust I have been given," he added,
explaining his decision to resign.
Apple Daily's newsroom was raided by more than 200 police
officers and authorities accuse Lai of "colluding with foreign
forces" and money laundering.
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