During the 2016 Legislative Council election, Tai Yaoting, a former associate professor of the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong, and Ye Jianqing and Shi Shouzheng, directors of "Egg Alliance Co., Ltd.", published several advertisements in Ming Pao and Apple Daily to promote the Thunder Plan, incurring election expenses of 250,000 yuan. Involved in violation of election regulations.
Tai Yaoting pleaded guilty earlier and was sentenced to 10 months in prison in the District Court today (24th).
Two other defendants allowed to sign conservative behavior
The three defendants: Dai Yaoting (57 years old, retired), Ye Jianqing (55 years old, director) and Shi Shouzheng (50 years old, director), were also charged with four counts of illegal conduct in the election that incurred election expenses.
Ye and Shi agreed to the case earlier, and the prosecution decided not to provide evidence to prosecute. They signed themselves conservatively for 12 months with 10,000 yuan for each charge.
The defense says it did not affect the fairness of the election
The defense pleaded for pleading earlier that the "Thunderbolt Plan" is the proportion of the votes that the pan-democrats should get, and it is actually reflected in the seats.
The defense also alleged that the prosecution had delayed the prosecution for five years.
Prosecution denies political prosecution
The prosecution explained that it took a long time because the relevant regulations were planned to be amended during this period and public consultations were conducted.
The prosecution also denied that the case was a political prosecution, and explained that because the case involved a lot of money and planned to involve all constituencies in Hong Kong, it chose to take the case to the District Court for handling.
Spend 250,000 on 6 ads
The facts of the case allege that from April to June 2016, Dai introduced the "Thunderbolt Plan" on several public occasions and on his personal Facebook, calling on voters who support pan-democratic or non-establishment systems to become "strategic voters" and vote according to the information provided by the plan. In order to ensure that the pan-democratic or non-establishment camp wins the majority of seats in the Legislative Council.
From August to September of the same year, the Egg Alliance spent a total of more than 250,000 yuan to publish 6 advertisements in Ming Pao and Apple Daily, promoting the Thunder Plan, appealing to the public for donations, and claiming to concentrate votes to save marginal candidates.
Case number: DCCC 683/2021
Dai Yaoting pleads guilty to illegally publishing advertisements in Legislative Council elections and will be sentenced next month. Deng Bingqiang in the legal aid case again in October: He hit several "big tigers" against Li Zhiying, Dai Yaoting, and "Apple" law enforcement
