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SCMP Reporter

Unsigned and undated tender documents 'not in common use at RTHK'

The director of broadcasting has vowed to eradicate illegal practices at RTHK after the latest corruption conviction of a former manager.

The pledge came a day after a judge criticised its senior executives for 'turning a blind eye' to abuses in tendering for production contracts.

Director of Broadcasting Chu Pui-hing  said the broadcaster would not  tolerate those who violated the rules.

'We are very concerned  about illegal practices. We won't turn a blind eye to them,' Mr Chu  said.

The director said unsigned and undated tender documents, of the kind produced as evidence in the trial which concluded this week, were not in common use at the station.

Secretary for Civil Service Joseph Wong Wing-ping  said the government was concerned about the corruption scandals at RTHK but believed the broadcaster had already made improvements over the years to plug loopholes in the system.

'The incidents took place at different times and we should no longer look at past incidents,' he said.

Mr Wong  said the Civil Service Bureau had seconded staff to the broadcaster at the end of 2002 to evaluate its internal management, outsourcing and merchandising procedures and to enhance monitoring.

Mr Chu  said that the following year, RTHK had set up an internal audit committee, whose members included an accountant from the Treasury Department, to evaluate and improve outsourcing and merchandising at the station.

The director also said RTHK had separated its production and administrative functions to avoid conflicts of interest.

On Tuesday, Deputy Judge Kevin Browne found a former staff member and two accomplices guilty of conspiring to defraud RTHK of $740,000 by submitting false bids for production contracts.

Former programme co-ordinator Cheung Kin-man  and friends Ho Yuen-yi  and Yu Siu-kei  were convicted of conspiring to defraud RTHK between December 15 and 31, 2002.

The three will be sentenced on April 12.

In July last year, Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology John Tsang Chun-wah  ordered  Mr Chu to submit a report on corruption at the broadcaster, which spends $500 million of public money a year. There have been at least three corruption cases in recent years involving RTHK personnel.

In October 2002, Richard Tsang Yip-fat,  former head of the classical music channel Radio 4, was found guilty of two counts of misconduct in public office between March 1999 and December 2000.

He was given a four-month suspended jail sentence for disguising pay rises to two employees as payments to freelancers.

In July 2002, producer George Mak Che-kin  was given a 16-month jail sentence for cheating the station out of nearly $250,000.



Broadcast chief promises clean up