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arrears and the surcharge immediately and reminding him of the Council's right to deduct the amount in arrears from the deposit paid by the contractor, or even to terminate the contract prematurely in accordance with the provisions of the contract.
If the contractor concerned still fails to pay the arrears of rent and the surcharge within 14 days after the date of the second reminder, the Accounts Section will notify the officer-in-charge of the venue to take appropriate actions immediately. Upon receiving instructions from the officer-in-charge of the venue, the Accounts Section will deduct the outstanding amount of rent and surcharge from the deposit previously paid by the contractor. If circumstances warrant termination of the contract, the officer-in-charge of the venue concerned will contact the legal adviser so that appropriate legal actions will be taken. Apart from settling the outstanding payment, the contractor will also be required to surrender the premises concerned.
In terminating the contract, the Council may, in accordance with the provisions of the contract, withhold the deposit previously paid by the contractor. The Council also has the right to claim compensation from the contractor through the Department of Justice and the courts for any losses suffered by the Council as a result of breach of contract by the contractor.
About part (iv) of the question, the Oriental Grill Ltd (OGL), a restaurant operator in the Hong Kong Stadium, has failed to pay the Concession Fees and the various charges since the Stadium was taken over by the Council. The Company's grounds for not settling the payment was that it was dissatisfied with the current Concession Agreement and the poor management of the previous managing company which had adversely affected its business. It requested rent deduction with effect from 01-09-1998. The Department has repeatedly pressed OGL to settle the outstanding amount and also requested the Company to provide the necessary statistics to prove its financial status. However, OGL failed to settle the payment by the date stipulated in the Final Demand Note (i.e. 28-01-99), nor did it provide the statistics before 31-1-99 as it had promised. Instead, it sent a letter to the BOG of the Stadium via its lawyer on 25 January 1999 and formally refused to settle the outstanding amount. It also stated that it would take legal action against the Council if its request for rent deduction was rejected. As the amount owed by OGL to the Council had accumulated to $2.7 millions, the Department reported the case to the Standing Committee of the Whole Council on 02-02-99 and sought Members' approval for termination of the Concession Agreement with OGL (Please refer to Committee Paper CW/158/98 for details).
On 02-02-1999, the Standing Committee of the Whole Council endorsed termination of the Concession Agreement with OGL. On the same date, the Department issued a letter to OGL to terminate the Agreement with
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