The Security Bureau said today that the Secretary for Security intends to recommend that the Chief Executive-in-Council order the Registrar of Companies to strike three companies relating to Apple Daily off the Companies Register.

The Secretary for Security has issued written notices to the three companies – Apple Daily, Apple Daily Printing and AD Internet – affording them an opportunity to make written representations by February 25 before a recommendation is made.

Any written representations submitted by the three companies will be submitted together to the Chief Executive-in-Council for a decision on whether or not to make the order, the Security Bureau said.

In a statement, the bureau noted that Lai Chee-ying and the three companies related to Apple Daily were convicted on December 15, 2025, of three charges involving offences endangering national security. The court handed down sentences on Monday, ordering each of the three companies to pay a fine of HK$3,004,500.

The statement added that Article 31 of the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL) stipulates that the operation of an incorporated or unincorporated body such as a company or an organisation shall be suspended or its licence or business permit shall be revoked if the body has been punished for committing an offence under the law.

It also pointed out that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has a responsibility to enforce the relevant provisions in Article 31 of the HKNSL regarding the three companies related to Apple Daily.

Citing the serious nature of the offences and recent convictions, the bureau stated that the Secretary for Security now considers it necessary to prohibit the operation of the three companies related to Apple Daily to safeguard national security. Consequently, the Secretary for Security plans to recommend that the Chief Executive-in-Council exercise the powers under section 360C of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance to order the Registrar of Companies to strike the three companies off the Companies Register.

The statement noted that if the Chief Executive-in-Council eventually decides to order the Registrar of Companies to strike the three companies relating to Apple Daily off the Companies Register, the three companies will become “prohibited organisations”.

It added that any person who engages in the acts specified in sections 62 to 65 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance commits an offence, including acting as an office-bearer or a member of a prohibited organisation and giving aid of any kind to a prohibited organisation, and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $1,000,000 and imprisonment for 14 years.