InvestHK

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Invest Hong Kong (Traditional Chinese: 投資推廣署) is a department of the Hong Kong Government formerly known as the Business and Services Promotion Unit, responsible for promoting Hong Kong as an investment destination to local and non-local firms. Invest Hong Kong was founded on 01 July 2000.

It is headed by the Director-General of Investment Promotion, which reports to the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology. The present Director-General is Michael Rowse (Traditional Chinese: 盧維思).

[edit] Harbour Fest controversy

In late 2003, in an attempt to bring back vistors to Hong Kong and to revive business confidence following the restoration of calm of the SARS outbreak which affected Hong Kong and Guangdong province, InvestHK was mandated to organise a very high profile event, the "Harbour Fest" music festival, in October, in conjunction with the American Chamber of Commerce.

Many notable acts (eg Rolling Stones, Prince, Real Madrid, Yao Ming and the Chinese National Basketball team) were brought in at huge expense. However, due to a number of factors, the result was poorly attended concerts where many tickets had to be given away^[1]. Even the giveaway was heavily criticised^[2]. The final bill for the taxpayers came to HK$100m, with various arms of the Government, InvestHK and the American Chamber of Commerce all blaming each other for the monumental flop^[3].

In November 2003, Financial Secretary Henry Tang opened an Audit Commission enquiry by accepting ultimate responsibility as the head of the Economic Relaunch Working Group which was responsible for approving the expenditure^[4].

In December 2003, Tung Chee Hwa announced there would be an independent review of the failings of the event to address the concern among the public, to report back by March 31, 2004. He appointed prominent lawyer Moses Cheng to head the investigation^[5].

In June 2004, a Legislative Council Public Accounts Committee report criticised InvestHK for improper stewardship of taxpayers' money. Rowse was fined one month's salary when the government made a ruling in October 2005.

On January 26, 2007, his appeal against the October 2005 ruling, and the consequential fine, was rejected. A member of Legco criticised the fact that there had been fewer reports of the disciplinary hearings to Legco than in the media^[6]. Legislator Cheung Man Kwong criticised the government for making Rowse a scapegoat for ministerial failure: "...ministers, including the Finance chief, only apologised without any punishment". Another one questioned the political motivation: "How come the timing of the decision against the appeal is so coincidental [with the election for the Chief Executive]?"^[7].

[edit] References

^ Joanilho, Marcal (November 1, 2003). Three-week road to hell for unlucky Jim. Hong Kong Standard. Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
^ Staff reporter (October 24, 2003). Fury at free tickets farce. Hong Kong Standard. Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
^ Luk, Eddie (November 19, 2003). $100m mistake. Hong Kong Standard. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
^ Yau, Cannix (November 6, 2003). Fest probe called. Hong Kong Standard. Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
^ Staff reporter (December 13, 2003). Pair to probe Fest trouble. Hong Kong Standard. Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
^ Wong, Martin, Klaudia Lee. "Rowse to fight on over Fest penalty", South China Morning Post, January 28, 2007.
^ Cheung, Jimmy. "Lawmakers challenge Rowse punishment", South China Morning Post, January 28, 2007, pp. 1.