TNAG-1364-FCO40-1810-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1986 — Page 118

Sir,

DRAFT SPEECH BY HON CHẤN KAM CHUEN, OBE, JP

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LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL - 4.12.85

JP

Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Fund

Supplementary Scheme

I rise to support the motion which if approved by this Council would relieve the long outstanding issue of unenforceable Court judgements and settlements to victims (or their dependents) of traffic accidents due to the insolvency of 5 insurers. These payments should be ex-gratia out of the TAVAS Fund and should not create a precedent.

As there were some interesting views in our In-house meeting, a Leg Co Ad Hoc Group was formed to study them and discussions were held with the Secretary for Economic Services and his team who gave us useful information for reporting back to our colleagues. As a result, the Hon Maria TAM and I shall jointly have some points to make on this issue today.

Insuring Bankruptcy

The Supplementary Scheme mentioned in the Financial Secretary's speech would mean that we are stepping into the unknown ground of insuring bankruptcy of business (in this case, insolvent insurance companies insured by motorists) and I would

wonder where the list of business would end. Should insolvent

bankers now turn around and tell their clients that "Hard luck,

my dear clients, you should have taken out insurance for my bankruptcy before depositing money in my bank".

Who should Pay

In the last 2 cases of insolvent banks, depositors were