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Under Clause 14 of the Bill, a member of the Authority who is a public officer has an added role. He has to draw the attention of the Board to any conflict between a matter before it and the public interest as perceived by him. The purpose is to ensure that the Board would be fully aware of the public interest affecting a matter being considered before it takes the decision. It is of course possible that different public officers may perceive the public interest differently in a particular issue before the Board. This is why as a final safeguard, Clause 20 of the Bill empowers the Governor in Council to issue a direction to the Authority in the public interest regarding the performance of its functions.
Nomination by professional bodies
Some Members have suggested that relevant professional bodies should be able to nominate a proportion of the members of the Airport Authority for appointment by the Governor. As always we are open to suggestions, but a proposal to require the Governor to reserve a proportion of the membership for professional bodies go against the principle that the Governor must ultimately have an unfettered discretion in appointing whom he considers most suitable to be members of the Authority.
Investment, subsidiaries and associated companies
In his statement, the Hon Peter Wong has raised the question of a proper control mechanism for investment by the Airport Authority and the need for Government to maintain an overall view of the activities of the Airport Authority including the activities of its associated companies as well as subsidiary companies. May I assure Mr Wong that the Government shares his concern that the funds controlled by the Authority must be handled with the highest level of care and diligence. And by handling, I of course include investing.
Under Clause 25 of the Bill, funds of the Authority available for investment may only be invested in such classes or description of investment as the Financial Secretary may in writing specify. In practice the Board, including public officers, will need to scrutinise every investment strategy proposed by Management. Thereafter, any investment which the Authority wishes to make would be carefully scrutinised by Government before approval would be given by the Financial Secretary.
Whilst a subsidiary is defined by reference to the Companies Ordinance, there is no legal definition for an associated company although the term generally refers to a company in which one has substantial but not controlling interest. I have no doubt that the Board of the Airport Authority, including all the public officers on it, will examine very carefully any justification for the acquisition of a subsidiary or investment in an associated company before authorising them.