Mike Rowse, the former chief of InvestHK, said yesterday he had been used as the sacrificial lamb for the HarbourFest fiasco, and what rankled the most were the disciplinary measures taken against him.
He was speaking on ATV's Newsline in his first television interview since retiring from the civil service.
Mr Rowse is best known for his association with HarbourFest, a series of concerts in 2003 meant to help revive the economy after the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. The government underwrote them for HK$100 million. Mr Rowse was fined HK$156,660 and severely reprimanded over the handling of the concerts, but the High Court quashed the fine last July for procedural unfairness.
'I don't think there was any doubt I was the chosen sacrificial lamb,' said Mr Rowse, accepting that someone had to be held accountable for the debacle, to satisfy the public.
'It was the charge of misconduct - that to me was unacceptable,' he said. Mr Rowse, who is expected to reveal all in a book later this year tentatively titled No Minister, added that a series of mistakes - when the fundamental nature of the festival was decided - were made in his absence.
The concert tickets, against original intentions, were priced against each other 'which meant the 17 concerts were suddenly competing with each other', Mr Rowse said. However, the four-week event was 'always overambitious'.
