108
Date:
Time:
26.11.86
8.30 am 12.15 pm
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Reporter:
CNB
all that's being said is that there is a simple procedure for the
airlines to engage two people or three people who just tear off the stubs, and for that simple service they claim from Government
coffers HK$1 million. And the simple thing that's being brought out in the Director of Audit's report is: if such a simple thing
were to have been done by Government officials, or in this case
immigration officers, who have, in any case, to check for immigration etc, etc, this one million could have been saved. I mean, this is the whole issue. So it is not so much that you are going all around saying, "Whose responsibility? Their responsibility," and this,
that and the other. Admittedly, you might be correct in saying
that there needs to be a system to be established for certain checks
and balances, but certainly, based on your evidence so far, it
seems to me at least, personally, that this particular issue hasn't really been looked at that thoroughly. If it has, it hasn't been
borne out by evidence. All we're hearing is, "Well, this is the airline's responsibility, it shouldn't be placed under Government
servants," and this is a matter of attitude. It's just like last. year, if I may, Mr Chairman, just say, that in the Customs Department
there were certain things that the customs official needed to be
done and really at not much extra effort, and the Customs Department simply refused to do it because they said, "This is somebody else's responsibility and not our responsibility.' So it's really a question of attitude, I put that on to you.
DI:
11
No, I'm sorry, sir, I can't accept that. The evidence I've given so far has been in response to the questions that have been asked of me. If we want to come to the broader issues, I'd
be happy to do so. The first point that I would like to make is that we don't think this job is necessary at all. It is not monitored, it is not checked. We have asked time and again for a convincing explanation of what is really being achieved by this job and so far we've not actually received a convincing answer. We don't believe that anything is really being achieved. We know of cases of people who come through the check without the tickets being torn, in fact, and nothing happens. The system still goes on just
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