A COMPLAINT against the Treasury for unreasonable delay in demanding rates has prompted the department to consider a review of its existing procedures, the Ombudsman, Andrew So Kwok-wing, revealed yesterday.
The complaint was lodged by a man, who has since emigrated, who received a demand for rates which were more than six years in arrears. They were for a property owned by the estate of a deceased person. The complainant was one of the co-administrators.
The Ombudsman discovered the Director of Accounting Services had originally sent a demand note for the two months' rates outstanding before the property was sold. He sent a demand to a woman in 1988 who had dealt with a previous bill but it had remained unsettled.
The case was taken over by the Treasury and after a search in 1991, a note was sent to the complainant.
Mr So said there was no recovery action by the Treasury for a period of three years from mid-1988 to late 1991.
'Obviously, the Treasury has gone through a lot of troubles to locate the complainant. However, the action taken by the Treasury was neither immediate nor continuous,' he said.