At least two pro-Beijing businesspeople may be linked to leasing irregularities, Apple Daily has found after its boss, Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai, was charged with fraud this week over allegedly inappropriate use of land that hosts his media empire.

One of the Beijing loyalists is Kent Ho, son of Charles Ho, the owner of pro-establishment newspaper Sing Tao Daily. The son’s start-up investment company, Spectrum 28 Limited, operates from the premises housing his father’s Sing Tao headquarters, which is located in the same industrial estate as Apple Daily in Tseung Kwan O.

Spectrum 28 is engaged in business unrelated to Sing Tao, an Apple Daily investigation shows, raising questions about the use of the site for non-media purposes.

When approached by reporters, the senior Ho hung up his phone after saying: “I have no clue about this. You should ask the firm. I don’t take care of these things so it’s useless to ask me.”

Apart from the Ho family, the brother of former Hong Kong chief executive candidate Henry Tang is found to be allowing a pro-Beijing residents’ association to share space with his technological firm in the Tai Po industrial estate. The firm Photomask (H.K.) Limited, co-owned by Tom Tang, has part of its site used to provide services for the Wusih Residents (H.K.) Association Limited, which he chairs.

Within the same industrial complex is a book company founded by a pro-Beijing artist and located inside the factory of a health supplement manufacturer, the investigation shows.

The authorities had never taken action against these companies although they might have violated land lease terms governing the use of industrial sites, Apple Daily said.

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, which manages the industrial estates, has not responded to queries from Apple Daily on whether, given Lai’s arrest, it will follow up on these cases.

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