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The following is issued on behalf of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority:
The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) today (March 18) urged MPF/ORSO scheme members who have received the Government¡¦s injection of $6,000 to contact the MPFA if they are in doubt of their eligibility. The MPFA would arrange dedicated officers to follow up their cases.
According to an MPFA spokesperson, trustees are now injecting the special contributions of $6,000 into the MPF accounts of eligible scheme members. In implementing the injection project, the MPFA has verified the data of over seven million MPF accounts before compiling a list of 1.4 million eligible recipients. The data were mainly provided by the trustees and employers concerned.
Due to the enormous amount of data that needed to be handled, the MPFA had envisaged possible erroneous scenarios and had formulated mechanisms to rectify possible wrongful injections. The MPFA has been empowered by legislation to withdraw the special contributions of $6,000 from an MPF account concerned in case of wrongful injection.
Based on the eligibility criteria announced by the Government, an employee is deemed eligible for the injection if he had an MPF account or was an ORSO scheme member on 29 February 2008 while his monthly relevant income in any one of the Critical Months (namely December 2007, January and February 2008) did not exceed $10,000. In fact, when the Government and the MPFA discussed the eligibility criteria for the injection project with the Legislative Council last year, it was agreed that a generous approach be adopted in the determination of an employee¡¦s eligibility.
If a scheme member had taken a no-pay leave or changed jobs during the Critical Months, his/her paid days for a certain month during the period might be less than an entire month. In that case, the monthly income reported by his/her trustee to the MPFA might be lower than $10,000 or even be ¡§zero¡¨. Accordingly, the member would be defined as eligible for the injection.
The spokesperson urged scheme members who have received the injection of $6,000 but consider themselves ineligible should contact the MPFA at 2918 0102.
The MPFA would continue to work closely with the trustees and take follow-up actions when suspicious cases are noted, the spokesperson added.
Ends/Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Issued at HKT 21:00
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