Customs officials have rejected an offer for five confiscated armoured personnel carriers that could have saved taxpayers about $600,000 in dismantling and disposal costs.
Dublin-based Percent Ltd offered to ship the illegally imported Soviet carriers, which were discovered in March 2000 at a Kwai Chung container terminal, to Ireland.
Shipping the carriers, which each weigh about nine tonnes, to Ireland would cost about US$20,000 (HK$155,600) each, according to Percent. The company would not pay the Government for the vehicles but would instead pay the cost of shipping.
'No luck. Government bureaucracy, I suppose,' said Percent managing director David Johnson, who was recently in Guangdong on an unrelated business trip.
Percent, a management-training company, organises events for corporations and weekend war games for executives and their staff in Ireland.
The Hong Kong office of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has also offered to take over the vehicles and sell them in Singapore.
The company was unavailable for comment yesterday, but it is almost certain that its offer has also been rejected.