Senior officials may face disciplinary probes if their departments are found to have performed badly by the ombudsman or audit commissioner under the new accountability system being pushed by the Hong Kong government, the civil service minister has said. Speaking at a Legislative Council panel meeting on Monday, Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung…
Hong Kong should be very concerned about the recent flurry of cases involving misbehaviour in the construction industry. It would be too easy to write them off as isolated incidents when they could just as easily be straw in the wind, indicating a serious underlying malaise. One high-profile case is the Anderson Road quarry redevelopment…
Hong Kong’s logistics chief has issued a set of guidelines to senior civil servants, urging them to “heighten their alertness” and conduct due diligence to prevent potential fraudulent acts by tenderers and contractors, following a recent drinking water procurement scandal. “In light of the recent incident on procurement of bottled drinking water for which fraud…
It is quite unimaginable that Hong Kong continues to struggle with basic necessities such as water. However, that is the case, at least when it comes to the government. Ten years ago, opposition lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan found excessive levels of lead in drinking water that was later discovered to have affected 11 public housing…
Hong Kong’s treasury chief has dismissed calls to set up a separate commission of inquiry to investigate officials’ roles in a bottled water procurement scandal, arguing that the government’s auditors will be able to identify lapses in a “professional and independent” manner. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu, the head of…
Hong Kong police have arrested a married couple suspected of being at the centre of a rapidly unfolding controversy surrounding a HK$52.9 million (US$6.8 million) contract to supply drinking water to some government offices. The pair allegedly defrauded the government and are suspected of breaching the Trade Descriptions Ordinance by providing false information about the…
Hong Kong police have arrested a married couple suspected of defrauding the government in connection with a HK$52.9 million (US$6.8 million) contract to supply drinking water to civil service offices. Kung Hing-fun, the senior superintendent of the force’s commercial crime bureau, said on Monday that the man, 61, and woman, 57, were arrested the previous…
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