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. Mr So said the recovery action might have been completed before the man left Hong Kong if a land search had been conducted earlier and in more detail.
