SFST and SCS speak on report of Task Force on Review of Government Procurement Regime and outcome of relevant disciplinary investigation (with video)
Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, and the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, at a media session on the report of the Task Force on Review of Government Procurement Regime and outcome of the disciplinary investigation of the procurement of bottled drinking water incident this morning (January 20):
Mr Christopher Hui (left), Mrs Ingrid Yeung (right), Photo source: screenshot of the video
Reporter:Why did the accountability buck stop at the Government Logistics Department? Why is the Government satisfied that there was no further oversight from bureau level? And what mechanism besides the preliminary suggestions raised before by the Government imposed to prevent similar oversight from happening again?
Secretary for the Civil Service: Our investigation has been thorough and has been comprehensive, and it has revealed a lot of facts. Our decisions are all made based on the facts. Our decisions in conducting disciplinary actions against certain officers, in reflecting their performances in their performance appraisals and so on, have to be commensurate with the shortcomings revealed in the investigation report. So, everything is based on facts and we'll seek to take actions that are commensurate with the responsibilities of the officers concerned.
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury: In response to your question about what we have done to improve the regulatory regime, or the overall regime of the Government in procurement, I think it is exactly the purpose that we have set out to do when I led the Task Force to look at: what are the areas that we can do further? Along those lines, we have already identified four areas, including in terms of the mechanism to deal with the assessment and the contract management of tendering; and to look into the technology to make sure that there will be a wider circulation of information within the Government in case of any issues that we want to highlight to other procuring departments. At the same time, a lot of these measures have been implemented. For example, in the current re-tendering of our bottled water exercise, we have already implemented those measures. So, in conclusion, I would say that we have already identified the issues, and we have put them into practice and will continue to do so.
Reporter: First, I would like to see if Mrs Yeung could explain a bit more, in terms of why did the Government decide to revoke the former Government Logistics Department head Mr Carlson Chan's honours, and how appropriate or sufficient do you think it is to reflect the severity of the case?
Secretary for the Civil Service: I think this procurement of drinking water incident has drawn extensive attention from the public and brought serious disrepute to the Government. In this light, after consulting the Honours and Non-official Justices of the Peace Selection Committee, the Government has decided to reverse the previously announced decision to award the Silver Bauhinia Star to Mr Chan, and Mr Chan has been informed. This is after consideration of the investigation result and all the facts revealed.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
