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Following is a statement issued by the Chief Executiveˇ¦s Office today (September 30) relating to the declaration of interests by Executive Council (ExCo) Member, Mr Lau Wong-fat:
ˇ§To ensure that advice given to the Chief Executive by Members of ExCo is as unbiased and objective as possible, Members have a duty to declare any interest they may have in matters considered by ExCo. Members should fill out the ˇ§Annual Declaration of Registrable Interests of Members of ExCoˇ¨ (the ˇ§Registerˇ¨) to register their interests.
The Hon. Lau Wong-fat has indicated under ˇ§company heldˇ¨ in the Register that he holds ˇ§Carofaith Investment Ltdˇ¨ for investment purpose. Nevertheless, he has not indicated in parallel under ˇ§land and propertyˇ¨ in the Register that the company purchased 16 uncompleted flats in Yoho MidTown, Yuen Long in February and three properties in Palm Springs in April this year. Neither did he inform the ExCo Secretariat within 14 days after the purchases as required.
In this regard, while Members are required to declare under the ˇ§land and propertyˇ¨ section in the Register any land or property which is owned through a company, the Register does not specify that where a Member has declared his or her shareholding of a company under the ˇ§company heldˇ¨ section, he or she is still required to declare the land or property owned through the company under ˇ§land and propertyˇ¨, regardless of the amount of shares he or she holds.
After examining the above-mentioned situation, the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, considers that the declaration requirements should be interpreted in a strict manner, and that Mr Lau should have informed the ExCo Secretariat of the above-mentioned property transactions to update his declaration of interests. That said, Mr Tsang agrees that there is room to improve the Register in terms of clarity and that Mr Lau did not deliberately cover up or violate the concerned requirements. In fact, Mr Lau has indicated clearly in the Register that he has a shareholding interest in the company that holds the above-mentioned properties. He also declared his interests in companies engaged in land and property investments at ExCo meetings when matters on land and housing were discussed. The Chief Executive, therefore, does not consider that Mr Lau has made use of privileged information available to ExCo Members to his own advantage. Mr Tsang also notes that Mr Lau has apologised to the public for the above-mentioned omissions in declaration.
ˇ§With the benefit of hindsight, Mr Lau should have been more cautious in declaring his interests. Enquiries can always be made with the ExCo Secretariat. Meanwhile, I have instructed the ExCo Secretariat to make the stipulation under ˇ§land and propertyˇ¨ in the Register clearer in order to help Members declare their interests accurately to safeguard the interest of the public,ˇ¨ Mr Tsang said.
Currently, the Register requires Members to declare:
ˇ§Land and property owned in Hong Kong or outside Hong Kong, including those for self-occupation. Land or property which are held in the name of Membersˇ¦ spouses, children or other persons or companies, but are actually owned by Members; or land or property which are not owned by Members, but in which Members have a beneficial interest (e.g. rental income), are all registrable. It is not necessary to provide detailed addresses of the land or property.ˇ¨
The ExCo Secretariat has proposed to add to the Register that:
ˇ§If the land or property is held through a company, it is registrable should Members hold a controlling interest or more than 50% of its shares.ˇ¨
Ends/Thursday, September 30, 2010
Issued at HKT 22:12
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