Tuesday 12th January 2016

Dear Reader,

Silence is not golden. When it comes to disappearing publishers, the silence from China is deafening. Hong Kong Chinese journalists and authors who are critical of China can no longer feel safe in their beds, and after them, comes everyone else.

NEW ARTICLES
MTRC and the new Kowloon-Canton railway
We call on Government to disclose what the revenue-sharing deal with China Railway will be and to lease XRL directly to China Railway rather than MTRC, leaving MTRC to run the HK network. The MTRC special dividend should be unconditional and should be increased from $4.40 to $11 per share, slimming down the obese balance sheet to a healthy weight. (12-Jan-2016)

Keeping public data public: the right to remember
These are the slides of a presentation by David Webb to the Foreign Correspondents' Club today. (12-Jan-2016)

RECENTLY ON WEBB-SITE
HK companies see record closures, slowest growth since 2003
Webb-site reveals that 2015 saw the slowest net growth in HK companies since the recession of 2003 and record levels of dissolution. Market forces may still be alive though, with about half of 2007's companies already closed, despite the Government's increasing intervention. We don't need an Innovation and Technology Bureau, but we do need removal of Government barriers to information and competition - and they could start by removing the paywall on public registries. (2-Jan-2016)

SFC proposal sells HK short
We need your help! Support our submission to the SFC against draconian short-selling restrictions and reporting requirements in HK. Under 1 Country 2 Systems, there is no reason to follow China's demonisation of short-selling or to affirm that bias with a dragnet approach to reporting of short positions at 0.02% when long buyers only have to disclose at 5%. (28-Dec-2015)

IN OTHER NEWS
4 in court over alleged false claims of allowances from Yuen Long District Council
ICAC, 7-Jan-2016

Listing Committee censures/criticises New Sports (0299), 1 current and 5 former directors
SEHK, 6-Jan-2016

SFC fines Lui Chi Hang, ex-ABN Amro, now at BOCI, HK$300k
SFC, 6-Jan-2016

John Li Kwok Heem v Standard Chartered Intl (USA) Ltd
HK Court of First Instance, 5-Jan-2016
Mr Li sued over a failed investment in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme via the Fairfield Sentry Fund which the bank had distributed to him. Judge Louis Chan holds that although Standard Chartered did (unknowingly) make false representations on which Mr Li relied, the bank conducted its due diligence on the fund with reasonable care and skill and was not negligent. Case dismissed.

Sister of former District Councillor jailed for voting offence
ICAC, 4-Jan-2016

And much more besides...
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