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Land Fund
Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng Kar-foo and a written reply by the Secretary for the Treasury, Mr K C Kwong, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Reply:
Will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a)
(b)
(c)
T
(a)
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Land Fund (the Fund) has submitted, at regular intervals, detailed statements of income and expenditure, auditors' reports as well as reports on the Fund's staffing, investment strategies and investment returns, to the Sino-British Land Commission over the past ten years;
as the public in the territory have all along been unable to obtain the above basic financial data from the Annual Reports of the Fund, the Government will consider obtaining a full account of such data from the Sino-British Land Commission and submitting it to this Council; and
the Fund's present strategy of investing in securities has violated the provisions in paragraph 6 of Annex III to the Sino-British Joint Declaration which stipulate that the premium income of the Fund should be deposited in banks incorporated in the territory?
The operation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Land Fund is governed by the Deed of Declaration of Trust (the Trust Deed) for the establishment of the Fund. The Trust Deed stipulates that the trustees shall at the end of each year prepare a balance sheet showing the assets and liabilities of the Fund as at the end of that year and an income and expenditure account for the preceding year. The trustees shall also appoint an auditor who shall be a Certified Public Accountant holding a practicing certificate under the Professional Accountants Ordinance (Cap. 50) to audit the accounts of the Fund and to certify that the accounts present a true and fair view of the financial position of the Fund and that all drawings comply with the provisions of Annex III to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The Trust Deed also requires the trustees to forward, as soon as practicable, a true copy of the auditor's certificate together with the accounts of the Fund to the Sino- British Land Commission.
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