Issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Information Services
Garden Road, 5th-8th Floors, Murray Building,
Hong Kong. Tel: 2842 8777
Sunday, March 1, 1998
CONTENTS
========
1. Interest rate on Tax Reserve Certificates changed
2. LD warns applicants to PWIF not to give false information
3. Study on development growth of Island South and Lamma
1. Interest rate on Tax Reserve Certificates changed
*************************************************
As from tomorrow (Monday, March 2), the new annual
rate of interest payable on Tax Reserve Certificates will
be 7.68 per cent as against the current rate of 6.24 per
cent. The new rate will be $0.64 per month per $100.
The Government Gazette published on February 27, 1998
contained a Legal Notice to the effect that the Secretary
for the Treasury has authorised a change in the rate of
interest payable on Tax Reserve Certificates.
Tax Reserve Certificates bear simple interest and
interest is calculated monthly (including part of a month)
from the date of purchase to the date on which the
certificate is accepted for payment of tax.
Interest is only credited when certificates are used
to pay tax and no interest is due where the principal
value of a certificate is repaid to the holders of such
certificates.
The new rate will apply to all certificates issued on
or after March 2, 1998. Certificates which were issued
before that date will continue to earn interest at the
rates prevailing on their respective issue dates as
follows:-
for certificates issued on or after 5.28% per annum
4 March 1996 and before 1 June 1996;
for certificates issued on or after 4.92% per annum
1 June 1996 and before 2 September 1996;
for certificates issued on or after 4.68% per annum
2 September 1996 and before 2 December 1996;
for certificates issued on or after 4.80% per annum
2 December 1996 and before 2 June 1997;
for certificates issued on or after 4.92% per annum
2 June 1997 and before 1 September 1997;
for certificates issued on or after 5.52% per annum
1 September 1997 and before 1 December 1997;
for certificates issued on or after 6.24% per annum
1 December 1997 and before 2 March 1998;
and
for certificates issued on or after 7.68% per annum
2 March 1998 until further notice.
This is always subject to the general rule that
interest ceases to accrue after 36 complete months.
End
2. LD warns applicants to PWIF not to give false information
*********************************************************
The Labour Department today (Sunday) warned
applicants for ex-gratia payment from the Protection of
Wages on Insolvency Fund (PWIF) and their employers not to
give false information to the department.
The warning is issued following the recent conviction
of an employer of a button manufacturing and trading
company and his three employees at Tsuen Wan Magistracy.
Acting Chief Labour Officer, Mr Man Tak-wah, said the
four were charged for conspiracy to defraud the Protection
of Wages on Insolvency Fund Board (PWIFB) by dishonestly
causing the Commissioner for Labour to make ex-gratia
payment to them, and falsely representing to the
Commissioner for Labour that the applicants were entitled
to apply for ex-gratia payment.
He said the case involved the employer of Treasure
Island Button Industry Ltd and his four employees.
The employer and his three employees were convicted
while the fourth employee was acquitted.
The employer was sentenced to six months'
imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and fined $100,000.
The three employees were sentenced to one to two
months' imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and the
return of over $68,000 to the Fund Board.
Mr Man warned applicants and employers that it was a
serious offence to give false information to the Labour
Department when applying for ex-gratia payment from the
Fund.
He stressed that officers at the Wage Security Unit
scrutinised every application carefully and prosecutions
would be taken against those who attempt to defraud the
Fund.
Under section 26 of the Protection of Wages on
Insolvency Ordinance, the maximum penalty for giving false
information in applying ex-gratia payment from the Fund is
a fine of $50,000 and three months' imprisonment.
End
3. Study on development growth of Island South and Lamma
*****************************************************
The Government has commissioned a consultancy study
on the development potentials of Hong Kong Island South
and Lamma Island to accommodate an additional 60,000
people by 2011 and cope with the population growth beyond
then.
A spokesman for the Territory Development Department
(TDD) said today (Sunday) that the two-stage study would
examine the scope and feasibility of accommodating
strategic growth developments in these areas.
The first stage will be supervised by the Planning
Department while the second stage, to be led by the TDD,
will focus on engineering and site investigations.
"This integrated approach will reduce by one to two
years the time normally taken in two consultancy studies,"
the spokesman said.
A recommended outline development plan is expected to
be available in the first quarter of 1999 for consultation
with the relevant District Boards.
The study is carried out by Atkins China Limited at a
cost of $28.8 million. It is due for completion by early
2000, followed by detailed engineering design and
construction works.
End