The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr. Christopher Hui, and the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs. Ingrid Yeung, met with the media at 11 am today (Jan. 20) to announce the report of the report of the Task Force on Review of Government Procurement Regime and the results of the disciplinary investigation into the procurement of bottled drinking water incident. The government emphasized that the incident has attracted significant public attention and has severely impacted the government's reputation.
In late October last year, the SFST invited Ms Alice Lau, Administrative Officer Staff Grade A1, to conduct a disciplinary investigation into the incident with a view to ascertaining if any officers should be held accountable for the incident and, if so, the nature and level of their responsibility, such as whether any officers had contravened government or departmental rules and regulations in the process, or failed to act or perform up to the standards commensurate with their ranks and experience.
After reviewing relevant documents, the investigation team led by Ms Lau identified over 20 officers from the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the GLD, and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, and requested that they provide written statements. The investigation team also interviewed some of the officers concerned based on the contents of the statements.
Following an in-depth and comprehensive collection and analysis of facts, the investigation team found that three GLD officers failed to perform up to the standards commensurate with their ranks and experience in the procurement of bottled drinking water exercise. They demonstrated a lack of vigilance and judgement, thus failing to identify obvious irregularities and seize the opportunity to follow up as appropriate and report to their seniors in a timely manner. This resulted in the department missing the chance to detect the false documents and take appropriate action earlier.
Based on the findings of the above investigation, there is prima facie evidence at this stage suggesting that two of the three GLD officers, including one directorate officer, had failed to appreciate the significance of obvious irregularities and report such irregularities to their seniors in a timely manner. The Government will initiate formal disciplinary proceedings against them and mete out punishment based on the findings of the disciplinary inquiry. Besides, the deficiencies in the work performance of the two officers will be reflected in their appraisals, and the Government will not grant an increment to the officers who have not reached the maximum salary point of their ranks.
For the remaining GLD officer, the Government will reflect the officer's inadequacy in vigilance, judgment, and analytical power in his/her appraisal report and will not grant an increment to him/her. Written advice will also be served, requiring the officer to demonstrate significant improvement in the above competencies in the future.
Having found that there were officers who failed to report the irregularities to their seniors, the investigation team did not find any act of negligence on the part of the former Director of Government Logistics in the incident. However, the fact that all of the three aforementioned GLD officers at different ranks did not perform up to the standards commensurate with their ranks and experience in the incident reflects some prevalence of such substandard performance in the GLD. The report of the Task Force also revealed that there was room for improvement in the GLD's procurement work, with the need to heighten officers' guard against government loss and to put in place a more proactive and prudent procurement process. In this regard, the SFST has written to the former Director of Government Logistics, pointing out that more should have been done during his tenure as the Head of Department to enhance staff's capabilities and develop their sensitivity and proactiveness.
The 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 Carlson Chan, and he has been informed.
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