WHEN Dr Hank Townsend sat in the witness chair at the airport inquiry on Thursday morning, he must have been expecting the worst.
After presiding over the shambolic opening of Chek Lap Kok airport and the public uproar which followed the July 6 debacle, the Airport Authority's chief executive was about to have his comeuppance.
It did not take long and did not surprise those who had expected the Commission of Inquiry on the New Airport to be little more than an exercise in finger-pointing.
Following a predictable few hours of being led through his evidence by the authority's own counsel, questioning was passed to Ronny Tong SC, a high-profile barrister briefed by the Government to put its case.
Any hopes Dr Townsend might have clung to that the administration would stand faithfully by the side of the Airport Authority and present a united front at the inquiry were quickly dashed.
As he read through minutes of the authority's board and internal meetings as well as those from a co-ordinating body chaired by Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan Fang On-sang, it was clear the Government was ready to pin the blame on Dr Townsend's beleaguered organisation.
