Jimmy Lai Chee-ying repeatedly claimed he was unaware that former U.S. military officers had signed the contract for consulting Taiwan; He rowed back after being questioned by the judge.

• On Jan. 16, Lai admitted in court he personally sponsored and arranged for former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army Jack Keane and former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz to travel to Taiwan multiple times to meet with the then Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and providing consulting services to her, in order to assist her to understand U.S. policy toward Taiwan. The prosecution continued questioning Lai on this matter today.
• The prosecution exhibited a WhatsApp conversation between Lai and Mark Simon on 24th June 2017, showing that Mark Simon informed Lai of "good news" and stated that the US Department of Justice had approved the "consulting contracts" for Keane and Wolfowitz. Lai replied: "Very good!" Lai denied, in response to the prosecution's question, personally signing the contracts with Keane and Wolfowitz. Lai claimed no contract was signed although he paid "consulting fees" to the two and he learned there was a contract only from the court hearings.
• Judge Lee and Judge Toh both cast doubt on Lai's statement that he was unaware of the contracts until the court hearing. The prosecution immediately asked Lai to read his WhatsApp conversation with Mark Simon again, which clearly showed that Lai replied: "Very good" during the discussion with Mark Simon about the contract. Lai subsequently rowed back and said he "had overlooked" and did not pay attention to the details at the time. After being repeatedly questioned by the judges, Lai eventually admitted to having reached a verbal agreement with the two individuals.
• The prosecution exhibited another WhatsApp conversation between Lai and Mark Simon, showing that Mark Simon mentioned payment details for the "two-year contracts" of Keane and Wolfowitz that Keane's fees were paid on schedule but Wolfowitz's fees were delayed and would bepaid in full the following year. The prosecution sought clarification from Lai about the existence of the "two-year contracts," to which Lai confirmed. Lai also admitted that Keane and Wolfowitz had visited Taiwan four times in 2017, during which Lai personally traveled to Taiwan twice to meet and dine with them.

Jimmy Lai Chee-ying paid HK$23millions to two former US military officers for provision of political advisory services to Tsai Ing-wen

• The prosecution continued questioning Lai about the contract for former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army Jack Keane and former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz to provide consulting services to Taiwan area leader Tsai Ing-wen. The prosecution asked Lai whether the contract included arrangements for the two to travel to other countries and regions outside of Taiwan for the provision of consulting services. Lai stated in court that the services were limited to Taiwan and denied involvement in other regions.
• The prosecution then presented a WhatsApp conversation between Lai and his assistant Mark Simon on July 30, 2017. In the conversation, Mark Simon informed Lai that Jack Keane and Paul Wolfowitz believed that meeting with Tsai Ing-wen every two months was not very effective and they suggested visiting allied countries like Vietnam and Japan to seek support for Taiwan and Tsai Ing-wen.
• When the prosecution asked if Keane and Wolfowitz had suggested visiting allied countries like Vietnam and Japan to provide more assistance to Taiwan, Lai admitted that they had made the suggestion. He however claimed that the plan was never implemented and denied that Keane and Wolfowitz had actually visited Vietnam, Japan, or other countries. He emphasized that it was just their idea. Judge Toh pointed out that the key issue was not whether the suggestion was ultimately carried out, but whether the suggestion did exist and whether Lai agreed with it at the time. Lai admitted he agreed with the suggestion but stated that it was never implemented as the advisory services provided by the two former US military officers were always limited to Taiwan.
• The prosecution continued presenting a WhatsApp conversation between Jimmy Lai and Mark Simon on Nov. 13, 2018. In the conversation, Mark Simon mentioned that Jack Keane and Paul Wolfowitz had visited Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Taiwan in May, July to August, and early November 2018. Lai responded to Mark Simon's message by acknowledging the situation with "Ok. Thanks." Lai however claimed in court he was unaware of their visits to these countries, which led to repeated questioning by the judge. Lai eventually admitted he could not dispute the records, as they were actual WhatsApp conversations (well I cannot dispute that because there's a WhatsApp here).
• Furthermore, the prosecution questioned Lai about the payment details for Keane and Wolfowitz's advisory services to Tsai Ing-wen from Taiwan. The prosecution presented WhatsApp conversations with Mark Simon on July 19, 2018, and June 21, 2019, showing that Mark Simon explained the remuneration and expenses for Keane and Wolfowitz to Lai. Lai confirmed in court that the total remuneration for their two-year advisory contract was over HK$23 million, with an additional HK$7.8 million for repayment of Keane's debts. When Judge Toh asked why the payments were made through Canada, Lai explained it was because they wanted to avoid paying US taxes (because they did not want to pay US tax).Lai Chee-ying admitted to giving over HK$1 million to Tsai Ing-wen's "right-hand man" Antonio Chiang in three years

• The prosecution continued questioning Lai regarding his connection with Antonio Chiang, who was Tsai Ing-wen's "right-hand man." Lai confirmed that Chiang acted as the middleman arranging meetings between two former U.S. military officers and Tsai Ing-wen. Lai also noted he had hired Chiang to author columns for Taiwan Next Magazine before Chiang began working for Tsai.
• The prosecution exhibited an email of March 25, 2020, from the senior management staff of Taiwan Next Media Johnny Chern, which indicated that in November 2017 Lai Chee-ying instructed the board chairman of Next Media Ip Yut-kin to pay Antonio Chiang NT$209,606 (over HK$50,000) monthly as a "consulting fee" through "Taiwan Apple Daily" and Lai stated that the payments were unrelated to writing articles but the reason of payment was Chiang had "some benefit" for him that only Lai knew what it was. The email also mentioned that in early 2019, the then-president of Apple Daily Taiwan Chen Yu-hsin questioned why Chiang had been receiving monthly payments for over a year without writing any articles or doing any work. Chen therefore directly asked Lai whether the payments should continue, to which Lai replied they should continue.

The prosecution further exhibited financial records showing that Lai paid Antonio Chiang over NT$5 million (more than HK$1 million) from November 2017 to February 2020 through Taiwan Apple Daily. Judge Toh asked Lai if he would continue paying Chiang after he became Tsai Ing-wen's "right-hand man," to which Lai confirmed. Judge Lee then asked Lai whether it meant he had been paying a Taiwanese official without any reason, to which Lai also agreed.

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