CH INNOVATION (01217): The court ruled that the defendants must bear legal responsibility for defamation against the plaintiffs.
China Innovation Investment (01217) announced that it has issued a series of notices regarding false news reports. The company's board of directors is pleased to announce that, concerning multiple defamatory articles published in the Apple Daily on and after November 23, 2019, targeting the company, the company's chairman Mr. Xiang Xin, and Mr. Xiang's appointee, Ms. Gong Qing (the plaintiff), the Hong Kong High Court of First Instance issued a judgment on August 18, 2026, ruling in favor of the plaintiff, with the following key points:
CH INNOVATION (01217) released an announcement regarding a series of statements related to false news reports. The companys board is pleased to announce that on August 18, 2026, the High Court of Hong Kong issued a judgment in the original trial concerning multiple defamatory articles published by Apple Daily on and after November 23, 2019, which targeted the company, Mr. Xiang Xin, the chairman of the board, and Ms. Gong Qing, the replacement director (the plaintiff). The key points of the judgment are as follows:
The court ruled that the first defendant, Apple Daily Limited, and the second defendant, Apple Internet Limited, are liable for defamation due to the publication of a total of ten articles containing defamatory content during November to December 2019 (among which false and malicious allegations were made against the plaintiff, including labeling the company as an intelligence agency, claiming that Mr. Xiang and Ms. Gong were intelligence personnel or agents, and accusing them of engaging in various deceptive and/or illegal activities in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and/or overseas). The court ordered the defendants to pay a total of HKD 1.5 million in damages along with associated interest, and they shall bear all the legal costs of this case.
The plaintiff has reached a settlement with the third defendant, Mr. Luo Weiguang. Additionally, since the court documents for the fourth to seventh defendants (The Age Company Pty Ltd, Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd, Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd, and Wang Liqiang) were never successfully served, the plaintiff has decided not to pursue further action against them.
The board believes that this judgment fully reflects judicial justice, restores the reputation of the company, Mr. Xiang, and Ms. Gong, and effectively corrects the damage caused to the reputation of the company and related individuals by the false news reports involved.
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