AUG. 28, 2014
Leaked documents suggest Jimmy Lai made substantial donations to pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong. Credit Alex Hofford/European Pressphoto Agency
HONG KONG — Officers from the anticorruption agency in Hong Kong searched the home of the media tycoon Jimmy Lai on Thursday morning, a month after leaked documents suggested that he had made substantial donations to local pro-democracy parties and politicians.
Mr. Lai is an outspoken supporter of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, whose newspaper, Apple Daily, is frequently critical of the Chinese government.
Besides Mr. Lai’s house, the agency also searched the apartment of his top aide, Mark Simon. The office and the apartment of Lee Cheuk-yan, a legislator who received donations from Mr. Lai, were also searched Thursday morning.
A person who identified himself as a shareholder of Mr. Lai’s media group, Next Media, sent a trove of leaked documents to Hong Kong newspapers last month, including images of banking receipts. They indicated that several pro-democracy groups and individuals received more than $1.3 million in donations last year through Mr. Simon. Lawmakers from a pro-Beijing party later filed reports to the legislature and the anticorruption agency calling for a formal investigation of the matter.
In a public statement issued Thursday evening, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said that four premises had been searched during the day after the agency obtained warrants from the Court of First Instance. The investigation began after the agency received notices that alleged some legislators had violated an antibribery law, the statement said, although it did not name the parties involved.
The development came as the city awaits an announcement from Beijing on the process for electing its next leader in 2017, an issue at the heart of an intensifying political tussle that has divided local democracy advocates and Beijing loyalists.
It was not known which of Mr. Lai’s donations was under investigation. Hong Kong has no laws specifically requiring the disclosure of donations to political parties, but some legislators alleged to have received donations from Mr. Lai did not declare them as the legislature’s rules would require.
Mr. Lai declined to comment, and a spokesman for the antigraft agency said he would not discuss individual cases.
Mr. Lee, the legislator, said that the search of his office and apartment was prompted by Mr. Lai’s donation and about remarks that Mr. Lee made during a legislative debate on press freedom in January, in which he mentioned the withdrawal of ads from Apple Daily.
Trading in shares of Next Media, Mr. Lai’s media holding company, was halted on Hong Kong’s stock exchange Thursday morning, after their price fell 3 percent following the news of the raid.
