LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 11 January 2017 2719 OFFICIAL RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Wednesday, 11 January 2017 The Council met at Eleven o'clock MEMBERS PRESENT: THE PRESIDENT THE HONOURABLE ANDREW LEUNG KWAN-YUEN, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE JAMES TO KUN-SUN THE HONOURABLE LEUNG YIU-CHUNG THE HONOURABLE ABRAHAM SHEK LAI-HIM, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE TOMMY CHEUNG YU-YAN, G.B.S., J.P. PROF THE HONOURABLE JOSEPH LEE KOK-LONG, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE JEFFREY LAM KIN-FUNG, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG TING-KWONG, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE STARRY LEE WAI-KING, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAK-KAN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN KIN-POR, B.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PRISCILLA LEUNG MEI-FUN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG KWOK-KIN, S.B.S., J.P. 2720 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 11 January 2017 THE HONOURABLE PAUL TSE WAI-CHUN, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEUNG KWOK-HUNG# THE HONOURABLE CLAUDIA MO THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL TIEN PUK-SUN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE STEVEN HO CHUN-YIN, B.B.S. THE HONOURABLE FRANKIE YICK CHI-MING, J.P. THE HONOURABLE WU CHI-WAI, M.H. THE HONOURABLE YIU SI-WING, B.B.S. THE HONOURABLE MA FUNG-KWOK, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHARLES PETER MOK, J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN CHI-CHUEN THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAN-PAN, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEUNG CHE-CHEUNG, B.B.S., M.H., J.P. THE HONOURABLE KENNETH LEUNG THE HONOURABLE ALICE MAK MEI-KUEN, B.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE KWOK KA-KI THE HONOURABLE KWOK WAI-KEUNG THE HONOURABLE DENNIS KWOK WING-HANG # According to the Judgment of the Court of First Instance of the High Court on 14 July 2017, LEUNG Kwok-hung, Nathan LAW Kwun-chung, YIU Chung-yim and LAU Siu-lai have been disqualified from assuming the office of a member of the Legislative Council, and have vacated the same since 12 October 2016, and are not entitled to act as a member of the Legislative Council. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 11 January 2017 2721 THE HONOURABLE CHRISTOPHER CHEUNG WAH-FUNG, S.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE FERNANDO CHEUNG CHIU-HUNG DR THE HONOURABLE HELENA WONG PIK-WAN THE HONOURABLE IP KIN-YUEN DR THE HONOURABLE ELIZABETH QUAT, J.P. THE HONOURABLE MARTIN LIAO CHEUNG-KONG, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE POON SIU-PING, B.B.S., M.H. DR THE HONOURABLE CHIANG LAI-WAN, J.P. IR DR THE HONOURABLE LO WAI-KWOK, S.B.S., M.H., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ALVIN YEUNG THE HONOURABLE ANDREW WAN SIU-KIN THE HONOURABLE CHU HOI-DICK THE HONOURABLE JIMMY NG WING-KA, J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE JUNIUS HO KWAN-YIU, J.P. THE HONOURABLE HO KAI-MING THE HONOURABLE LAM CHEUK-TING THE HONOURABLE HOLDEN CHOW HO-DING THE HONOURABLE SHIU KA-FAI THE HONOURABLE SHIU KA-CHUN THE HONOURABLE WILSON OR CHONG-SHING, M.H. 2722 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 11 January 2017 THE HONOURABLE YUNG HOI-YAN DR THE HONOURABLE PIERRE CHAN THE HONOURABLE CHAN CHUN-YING THE HONOURABLE TANYA CHAN THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG KWOK-KWAN, J.P. THE HONOURABLE HUI CHI-FUNG THE HONOURABLE LUK CHUNG-HUNG THE HONOURABLE LAU KWOK-FAN, M.H. THE HONOURABLE KENNETH LAU IP-KEUNG, M.H., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE CHENG CHUNG-TAI THE HONOURABLE KWONG CHUN-YU THE HONOURABLE JEREMY TAM MAN-HO THE HONOURABLE NATHAN LAW KWUN-CHUNG# DR THE HONOURABLE YIU CHUNG-YIM# DR THE HONOURABLE LAU SIU-LAI# MEMBERS ABSENT: THE HONOURABLE MRS REGINA IP LAU SUK-YEE, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHUNG KWOK-PAN # According to the Judgment of the Court of First Instance of the High Court on 14 July 2017, LEUNG Kwok-hung, Nathan LAW Kwun-chung, YIU Chung-yim and LAU Siu-lai have been disqualified from assuming the office of a member of the Legislative Council, and have vacated the same since 12 October 2016, and are not entitled to act as a member of the Legislative Council. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 11 January 2017 2723 PUBLIC OFFICERS ATTENDING: THE HONOURABLE RIMSKY YUEN KWOK-KEUNG, S.C., J.P. SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE PROF THE HONOURABLE ANTHONY CHEUNG BING-LEUNG, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT AND HOUSING THE HONOURABLE MATTHEW CHEUNG KIN-CHUNG, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND WELFARE THE HONOURABLE RAYMOND TAM CHI-YUEN, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND MAINLAND AFFAIRS THE HONOURABLE WONG KAM-SING, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT THE HONOURABLE PAUL CHAN MO-PO, G.B.S., M.H., J.P. SECRETARY FOR DEVELOPMENT MR GODFREY LEUNG KING-KWOK, J.P. UNDER SECRETARY FOR COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CLERKS IN ATTENDANCE: MR KENNETH CHEN WEI-ON, S.B.S., SECRETARY GENERAL MISS ODELIA LEUNG HING-YEE, DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL MISS FLORA TAI YIN-PING, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL MS DORA WAI, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL 2724 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 11 January 2017 PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Will the Clerk please ring the bell to summon Members to the Chamber. (After the summoning bell had been rung, a number of Members entered the Chamber) PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Good morning, Honourable Members. The meeting today is the first Legislative Council meeting in 2017. I wish you every success in your work, and look forward to stability in politics and harmony. TABLING OF PAPERS The following papers were laid on the table under Rule 21(2) of the Rules of Procedure: Subsidiary Legislation/Instruments L.N. No. Hazardous Chemicals Control Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2016 ........................................ 194/2016 Banking (Disclosure) (Amendment) Rules 2016 .............. 195/2016 Banking (Specification of Class of Exempted Charges) (Amendment) Notice 2016 ................................... 196/2016 Other Paper Report No. 8/16-17 of the House Committee on Consideration of Subsidiary Legislation and Other Instruments ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Questions. First question. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 11 January 2017 2725 Public officers continuing to implement agreements for provision of services to commercial organizations which they entered into before taking office 1. MR LAM CHEUK-TING (in Cantonese): President, Mr LEUNG Chun-ying was elected Chief Executive ("CE") in March 2012. Before he was elected, Mr LEUNG resigned from the office of the Asia Pacific Director of DTZ in November 2011 and entered into an agreement in December of the same year with UGL Limited ("UGL"), which was then planning to acquire DTZ. The agreement stipulated that within two years upon completion of the acquisition, apart from not poaching any people from or competing with DTZ, Mr LEUNG would, in promoting the business of the UGL Group and the DTZ Group, provide assistance from time to time, which included acting as referee and adviser, in accordance with the reasonable requests made by UGL. Mr LEUNG received under the agreement a remuneration of £4 million in total in the first two years after his taking the office of CE, but he had all along failed to declare his interests relating to the agreement to the Clerk to the Executive Council ("ExCo"). Upon revelation of the aforesaid agreement by the media in October 2014, some members of the public queried that such practice of CE involved a conflict of interests and his failure to declare the interests constituted a misconduct in public office. In response to such queries, the Government pointed out that (i) the agreement had been entered into before Mr LEUNG took office; (ii) the agreement contained a clause providing for the avoidance of conflict of interests, i.e. he would provide the aforesaid assistance to UGL only under the situation that such assistance would not create any conflict of interests; (iii) UGL had not requested him to provide any services; and (iv) he had never provided any services to UGL ("the four conditions"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: (1) whether, under the existing requirements, politically appointed officials, ExCo Members and civil servants may follow CE's practice, i.e. they may continue to implement agreements for provision of services to commercial organizations that were entered into before their taking office and are still in force thereafter ("agreements entered into before taking office"), and they may receive remuneration in accordance with such agreements without making any declaration or obtaining any approval, so long as the aforesaid four conditions are met; if they may not, of the reasons for that; 2726 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 11 January 2017 (2) whether it has studied if those types of persons mentioned in (1) will not contravene the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and the relevant declaration requirements, and nor will they be liable for the offence of misconduct in public office, for accepting advantages, so long as they meet the aforesaid four conditions and have received such advantages in accordance with the agreements that were entered into before their taking office; if it has studied and the outcome is that this will be the case, how the Government will plug the loophole to maintain the corruption-free system in Hong Kong; and (3) how the Government will handle the situation in which a person of the types mentioned in (1) is found to have failed to make declaration of an agreement that he entered into before taking office and has failed to fully implement that agreement; whether it will order such person to cancel the agreement concerned and return or refrain from receiving the relevant remuneration and, when the situation warrants, institute disciplinary proceedings or criminal investigation in respect of cases of conflict of interests, so as to allay public concern; if it will not, of the reasons for that? SECRETARY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND MAINLAND AFFAIRS (in Cantonese): President, with regard to Member's question, after consulting the relevant offices and bureaux, I am providing a consolidated reply as follows: Public officers, including politically appointed officials ("PAOs"), Members of the Executive Council ("ExCo") and civil servants, are governed by their respective systems for declaration of interests.