Monday 12th April 2021
Dear Readers,
Sorry it's been 3 months since I summoned the energy to push out a newsletter, but here's a round-up of our articles published since then, including today's. A battle for transparency in the Companies Registry, that we thought was won in 2013, is now back. If you have a view on this, please drop an email to the LegCo Financial Affairs Panel at panel_fa@legco.gov.hk.
NEWish ARTICLES
Government misled LegCo over HKIDs
A quick Sunday search using a
single popular name finds 8 pairs of matching masked HKIDs in the Companies
Registry. There must be hundreds or thousands of other such pairs on other names
- yet the Government claimed on Friday that it could only find 8 in the entire
database. (12-Apr-2021)
HK's
inbound quarantine laws: dangerous, irrational and unconstitutional
We put our microscope on HK's inbound quarantine laws and find that the 21-day
length of quarantine actually increases the risk to the community, Further, the
ban on arrivals from 4 countries is irrational. Both fail to satisfy
constitutional tests of proportionality. (16-Mar-2021)
The
Budget and HK's Road to Serfdom
The so-called "Consumption Voucher"
will probably become another cash handout, a total of HK$108bn over 2 years -
but that's not the point. HK's budget has long since deviated from the Basic Law
requirement to keep the budget in line with Gross Domestic Product over time,
having expanded by over a quarter since the 1997 Handover. HK is becoming a
tax-and-spend interventionist economy, departing from the free-market principles
at the root of its success. (26-Feb-2021)
How the
GameStop game will stop
…and who will benefit when it
does. (28-Jan-2021)
Meter Madness
How HK's policies of pseudo-anonymity and deep
under-pricing of metered parking have resulted in a half-baked not-very-smart
upgrade to the system, launched yesterday. (19-Jan-2021)
IN OTHER NEWS
Arrest warrant issued
for Ms Zeng Lingxi
SFC, 1-Apr-2021
The alleged social media pump & dumper has put in some social distance and
failed to appear in Court. The SFC has "credible information" that she left HK
on 15-Nov-2020. According to an earlier announcement, she was not restricted
from travelling but had to notify the SFC in advance of her travel plans.
Webb reappointed to
Takeovers Panel for 2 more years
SFC,
31-Mar-2021
They must be optimistic! He was first appointed in 2001
and became a Deputy Chairman in 2013. He's the 3rd-longest serving current
member of the Panel.
Golik (1118) has been
"recently informed by Mr Lo", an INED, of his sanction by HKICPA | Resignation
Company announcement, 22-Mar-2021
This
follows a complaint by Webb-site filed with SEHK on 18-Mar-2021 that Golik had
failed to announce the sanction, presumably because he had not told them, over 5
months after it was handed down. Update, 26-Mar-2021: he's resigned.
Arts body 'may scrap
funding for law-breakers'
RTHK, 17-Mar-2021
Better question: why are taxpayers paying artists, selected by the
ADC, to produce works of art, thereby distorting the free market? Scrap the Arts
Development Council, save over HK$226m per year of subventions, and let the
market decide which arts are worth funding. Any time you insert a government
body into the mix, you are bound to end up with these issues.
SFC fines Yardley
Securities HK$5m for AML breaches | Statement
of Disciplinary Action
SFC, 17-Mar-2021
This involve 2 clients between Feb-May-2016, and transfers to and from 3rd
parties in the "casino and gaming industry", using Yardley as a conduit.
SFC obtains DQs
against ex-senior execs of Shandong Molong (0568) for faking accounts | Judgment
SFC, 2-Mar-2021
Justice Linda Chan
criticises the SFC for (1) producing 3 alternative sets of admitted facts on the
gravity of the wrongdoing before deciding on the most serious one (knowingly
causing the earnings inflation); (2) failing to advance any mitigating factors;
and (3) producing 10 bundles of documents that were not needed.
SFC petitions to wind
up Adamas Asset Management (HK) Ltd
SFC,
26-Feb-2021
The sole director, Paul Lincoln Heffner was reportedly
found dead in his Tesla on 1-Jan-2021, with a bucket of burnt charcoal in the
back seat. We note that the firm and its co-founder Barry Lau Wang Chi featured
in articles we wrote about the Enigma Network. Mr Lau ceased to be a Responsible
Officer of the firm on 30-Nov-2020.
Webb on
"Backchat" re the Budget
RTHK, 25-Feb-2021
And much more besides...
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David M. Webb
Editor, Webb-site.com