Airport body sacks two chiefs criticised in reports

The two remaining Airport Authority chiefs criticised in inquiry reports over the botched Chek Lap Kok opening were sacked yesterday.

The contract of information technology head Kiron Chatterjee was terminated, while airport management director Chern Heed was removed from his post - both with immediate effect.

They were two of the four authority executives singled out for criticism in all three reports into the July 6 opening fiasco.

Former authority chief executive Dr Hank Townsend and former projects director Douglas Oakervee retired and received their gratuities before the reports were published.

Inquiries by a High Court judge, the Ombudsman and legislators variously found the four bosses negligent, over-confident and lacking in co-ordination in the run-up to the opening.

The chairwoman of the authority's working group that studied the reports, Maria Tam Wai-chu, said that after taking legal advice the board had decided not to pursue any action to recover gratuities paid to Dr Townsend and Mr Oakervee.

Mr Heed will also receive his payout when his contract expires at the end of the month. But a percentage of Mr Chatterjee's gratuity will be withheld.

Ms Tam rejected suggestions Mr Chatterjee had been made a scapegoat, saying his contract differed from the others, which allowed for their full payouts.

'Acting on two separate senior counsels' advice we are paying the gratuities for those three. However, Mr Heed will not be performing any duty from today onwards and we will not sign another contract with him when it expires,' she said.

'We are not looking for scapegoats. We are trying to enforce all the rights we have under the law. We are acting on the counsels' opinion which said we had the discretion to keep part of Mr Chatterjee's gratuities, so we are doing that.' Neither Mr Heed nor Mr Chatterjee could be contacted for comment yesterday.

Ms Tam said the authority should review whether employee contracts should be tightened. She refused to say how much of Mr Chatterjee's gratuity would be withheld.

But she said the total amount of gratuities payable to the four, including Mr Chatterjee's had part of it not been withheld, amounted to less than $2 million, with each receiving between $160,000 and $850,000.

Ms Tam said the authority project manager for electrical and mechanical works, Tsui King-cheong, criticised in the Legco report, had been warned and would be 'closely observed'.

System services head Joseph Lai Bong-kiu was appointed to Mr Chatterjee's post, and deputy airport management director Howard Eng would act in Mr Heed's post.

Editorial - Page 12