Hong Kong think tank used experts' names without consent

The names of at least five business leaders and academics were borrowed without their consent by a Hong Kong-based think tank which listed them as advisers, a South China Morning Post investigation has found.

One of them, American historian Howard Dooley, questioned whether the China Institute of City Competitiveness was legitimate or "just a money-making scheme", as the latest revelations cast further doubts over its integrity.

Two local scholars said this week they doubted the accuracy of the think tank's findings and one of its senior researchers, Professor Chau Kwong-wing from the University of Hong Kong, said he was quitting the institute because it appears "dishonest".

The CICC, founded in 1998 by its chairman Gui Qiangfang, is known for a regular study tracking the competitiveness of cities in China. Gui could not be reached for comment yesterday, but his deputy Raymond Tse Yin-ching suggested it was a case of "miscommunication".

A brochure last year listed 18 "advisory members", from Hong Kong, mainland China and six other countries. They included prominent Hong Kong businessman Dr Victor Fung Kwok-king, chairman of the Fung Group.

But a spokeswoman for Fung's office said he "has never been an adviser of the CICC".

Michael Smith, chief executive of Australian bank ANZ, and Dooley, a history professor from Western Michigan University, were also on the list.