Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong media tycoon, was arrested and kept in custody on Thursday December 3, after he was charged with fraud over a charge relating to the illegal use of his company’s premises.

Lai is the owner of Hong Kong tabloid and founder of Next Digital Media which publishes Apple Daily, a well-read tabloid that is frequently critical of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese leadership. He will be held on remand until his next court date in April next year.

He and two Next Digital Media executives were charged on Wednesday night when making a regular reporting appearance to police over their previous arrests in August under the national security law.

The executives, chief operating officer Royston Chow Tat-Kuen, and chief administrative officer Wong Wai-Keung were released on bail on Thursday, while Lai was denied bail because he was deemed an “absconding risk”, according to local reports.

The trio are accused of breaching land-lease terms by misusing Next Digital’s office space in Tseung Kwan O for other purposes.

It comes a day after three prominent pro-democracy activists, Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam were jailed for their activism.

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