bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Mark Hughes

A BANK of plain, grey filing cabinets in a nondescript room on the fourth floor of the Central Government Offices houses the expense claims of Legislative Councillors.

  Nestled inside stiff, white card binders are details of the business spending habits of the claimant, whose name appears in capital letters on the front.

  Councillors are entitled to be reimbursed up to $73,000 a month for any expenses they incur in pursuit of their work as members of Legco.

   Included in this is $10,000 automatically awarded for travelling costs.

  Because the money comes from the taxpayers, all claims can be inspected by members of the public between normal office hours.

   Despite this openness, the room is as quiet as a morgue.

  A lot can be learned by looking at a person's expense claims, legitimate or not.

  Most Legco members appear to recoup all $73,000 - or as close to it as possible - by claiming for office rent and staff costs.

  The rest appears to go on stationery, telephone calls, computer equipment and books.

  Independent councillor Timothy Ha Wing-ho, for example, on October 24 last year, put in a claim for $153 for a copy of the novel Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years, which he bought from the Swindon Book Company in Ocean Terminal.

   There is no explanation why a book designed in essence as light reading for a younger audience might help his constituents.

  Mr Ha also claimed $135.90 for a book called Public Speaking and $289 for another entitled Delusions of Grandeur, both of which, of course, may help his career.

  In fact, Mr Ha's expenses were among the most interesting examined yesterday.

   He claimed $22,260 for a Nikon Zoom F2.8 camera lens which he bought from Union Photo Supplies in Central's Queen Victoria Street on June 23 last year.

  There was also an electronic dictionary for $1,680, an electronic encyclopaedia for $2,000 and an electronic Bible for $1,700.

  Perhaps Mr Ha needed these to satisfy the hunger of the three sets of computers, three laser printers, two TV sets, a videotape recorder, a photocopying machine, a telephone answering machine, four cassette recorders, a mobile phone, a small camera, and an electronic diary, which he has bought and claimed for in the past nine months?   In contrast, Chim Pui-chung's expense forms are uniformly taciturn.

   All that appears every month is the straightforward claim of $16,000 for rental of an office in Des Voeux Road, Central, $58,000 for staff costs and $10,000 for travel allowances, with no further embellishments.

  In consequence, the man who represents the lucrative world of stockbroking and insurance appears to be doing so at a personal cost to himself of $11,000 a month.

  The Legislative Council Public Accounts Committee yesterday decided that legislators' expenses bills should be audited by Director of Audit Mr Jenney.

  Mr Jenney said last night he would take up the job but he needed further studies before he could map out the ambit of his audit review.

- MARK HUGHES 



Expenses brought to light