Director of Government Logistics apologises to the public for drinking water saga
發佈日期: 2025-08-21 19:54
TVB News
Xin Ding Xin Trade Company has been accused of selling counterfeit drinking water to the government.
Appearing in public for the first time since the issue started, Director of Government Logistics Carlson Chan apologised to the public for the inadequacies in the current procurement process.
Chan was speaking after the first meeting of the task force on reviewing government procurement procedures.
Xin Ding Xin, a company which was awarded a 52.9 million-dollar government contract, was found lying about the source of its water.
It also exposed loopholes in the government's procurement process, which involved the Government Logistics Department.
Carlson Chan, Director of Government Logistics said he acknowledged the incident caused huge public concern and doubts over the safety of drinking water acquired by the government.
He apologised on behalf of the department for the shortcomings in the procedure.
He said the current procurement regime may not be robust enough to prevent deliberate fraud.
Led by Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, an inter-departmental group is reviewing the procurement system, aiming to submit a report within three months.
Hui said, "we will look at areas in terms of the due diligence required, the issues on the contract management and also quality control. These are the relevant aspects that will be covered in our interim result, because what we would expect is that before we make the final announcement, we hopefully would like to get the result earlier than the three months that we said earlier."
Speaking in Beijing, Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan was asked if any official should be held accountable in the incident.
He said the civil service has clear disciplinary mechanisms that the government will strictly adhere to.
