‘I apologise to everyone’: Hong Kong official admits system failed to detect water fraud
Logistics department head says current procurement system may fail to detect scammers using authentic documents to mislead government
The Hong Kong government’s procurement system failed to detect document fraud and authorities are taking immediate steps to strengthen it, the head of the logistics department has said, apologising to the public for the first time since a growing water scandal broke out.
Government Logistics Department director Carlson Chan Ka-shun said on Thursday that officials understood the case had caused huge public concern over the procurement process.
“It has also sparked doubts over the safety of drinking water acquired by the government,” he said following the first meeting of a task force reviewing the procedures.
“We acknowledge that there were procedural inadequacies on our part. On behalf of the Government Logistics Department, I apologise to everyone.”
His apology came a day after the government announced that it had terminated all contracts with Xin Ding Xin Trade, the company at the centre of the water contract controversy that exposed loopholes in procurement procedures.
Treasury chief Christopher Hui Ching-yu said that the task force, which he heads, would provide a midterm investigation report with suggested measures rather than wait for its probe to be completed in three months.