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
