Aw told ICAC she approved plan to inflate figures
Sally Aw told the ICAC she gave her staff the green light to go ahead with plans to inflate circulation figures of the Hong Kong Standard by printing more newspapers, according to a statement seen by the South China Morning Post.
Ms Aw said: 'I just wanted to raise the circulation figures. It was just as simple as that.' She added: 'This was a commercial decision, that is to get more advertisers.' But she denied any knowledge the plot involved fraud and deception and said she had left details to her staff. Asked whether she agreed the scheme had deceived the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), she said: 'I find it difficult to say. I agree [sic] to it, but I did not do it, because it was done by them. That is, they did it in the company.' An ICAC officer suggested during the interview that extra newspapers printed each day were purchased by a company called Mornstar, owned by the Standard, and fake figures submitted to the ABC for certification.
But Ms Aw said the details were not discussed. The ICAC officer asked: 'Was it that you agreed to print more and submit the figure to the ABC?' Ms Aw said: 'Yes, that's all, nothing had been said about the submission of the figures to the ABC. It was only about printing more.' She added: 'We did not go into details about the deception as you called it . . . I did not instruct them how to do it, how to practise deception and things like that. I completely know nothing about it.' Her comments were made during a videotaped interview on June 4, 1997.
A transcript of the interview has been seen by the Post.
After being warned of her rights, Ms Aw said the proposal was put forward by general manager Henrietta So.
Ms Aw said So only talked about it 'briefly' and had not gone into details before the plan was put into action. 'I don't quite remember it (the conversation) clearly. It was probably about our circulation declining. It was hoped this action would help maintain the circulation figure,' she said.
The ICAC officer asked: 'You approved of their action?' Ms Aw replied: 'Yes, it was just like that.' But she added: 'The method has not been mentioned.' Ms Aw said she had not followed up what had been done and could not remember whether So had reported to her.
The tycoon said she was not told by So how many extra newspapers were being printed, adding: 'I did not check the circulation figures. [I only checked] the advertising revenue and the amount earned from sales.' Ms Aw said she did not know how much was paid to the distributor for the disposal of 'surplus newspapers'.
The judge said yesterday that the cost of printing the extra copies was $51 million.
Ms Aw told the ICAC that inflating circulation was a short-term measure and they did not have a target in mind.
