Appointing a non-civil servant as an aide to Tung Chee-hwa was inappropriate, independent provisional legislator Andrew Wong Wang-fat said yesterday.
The post of senior special assistant is to be taken by Andrew Lo Cheung-on, who worked for Mr Tung at his family shipping firm, Orient Overseas (International).
Mr Lo's salary, to be paid by taxpayers, will be $1.84 million a year, or $154,000 a month. The appointment is effective immediately.
Mr Wong told colleagues: 'If you don't consider it a civil service post, there can be a lot of problems. For example, can they take up work after retirement? Can they take part in elections?' Mr Wong said that since future chief executives would also probably need senior special assistants, it made little sense to limit the position to a short-term contract. The job should fall under the regular civil service umbrella, he said.
Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service Duncan Pescod defended the move. He said that appointments through non-civil service contracts were still subject to civil service regulations.
'They would need to apply [to the Government] if they wanted to take up any other employment within one year of their retirement,' he said.