The following is issued on behalf of the Environment and Conservation Fund Committee: The Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) Committee announced today (January 26) the below statement on the implementation of the munic… read more
The Government announced today (January 26) the further extension of the appointment of Mr Clement Chan Kam-wing as the Inspector to investigate the affairs of Next Digital Limited (NDL) by six months up to July 27, 2024.
The Financial Secretary, pursuant to the power conferred on him by sections 841(2) and (3) of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622), had appointed Mr Chan as the Inspector to investigate the affairs of NDL. As the Inspector has indicated to the Financial Secretary that the above investigation was still ongoing, the Financial Secretary has decided to further extend the Inspector’s appointment by six months. read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
The Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) today (January 26) submitted to the Chief Executive (CE) the mid-term report on the findings of the investigation into the failure of the Electronic Poll Register (EPR) system on the polling day of the District Council Ordinary Election (DCOE) (i.e. December 10, 2023) and held a press conference to present its findings.
The EPR system failed in the evening on the polling day of the DCOE, and polling stations were unable to use the system for issuing ballot papers. Subsequently, the CE instructed the EAC to set up a dedicated Investigation Group (IG) to find out the root causes of the incident, so that early preventive measures could be taken to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents in future. The IG was led by EAC member Mr Bernard Man, SC, with members from the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force and the Information Technology Management Division (ITMD) of the Registration and Electoral Office (REO).
The Chairman of the IG that is responsible for the investigation, Mr Bernard Man, said that at the time of the incident, the utilisation of the central processing unit (CPU) of the server of the EPR system had reached almost 100 per cent. Simulations conducted by the IG revealed that there were design issues with two programmes of the system, causing computation time to increase as polling went along. Therefore, the CPU was eventually overloaded at 7.37pm (i.e. 11 hours after the polling commenced). In addition, owing to another design issue, sequential requests queued up in the database and unnecessarily tied up a substantial amount of resources in the servers. Since these resources were shared with other programmes, the above issues caused the system to experience difficulty in executing the ballot paper issuing process. These were the main causes of the incident. He added that the two programme design issues that led to the incident involved design changes made by the ITMD of the REO to meet the operational needs of the 2023 DCOE.
The EPR system was a “closed” system. Only electoral staff may log in through tablet computers provided by the REO. Any other external persons or devices that attempt to access the EPR system would be rejected by the firewall and would not be able to connect. Hence, it is a safety setting. The IG did not discover any record of any external device attempting to access the EPR system, hence the possibility of an external attack can basically be ruled out. In addition, the Police also carefully investigated the operation of polling stations on the polling day and the system’s design issues. There was no evidence to suggest any malicious attempt to sabotage or affect the operation of the system.
“The main cause of the failure of the EPR system was that when altering the system design, the REO technical team did not fully consider the loading that might be induced to the system during actual operation, and therefore did not conduct sufficient and comprehensive load testing. When submitting alterations to the other two tiers, the technical team did not adequately explain the details of the alterations and the possible impacts. As a result, the two latter tiers were unable to fully grasp the possible consequences of the alterations in programme design,” Mr Man concluded.
Apart from the above, the EAC Chairman, Mr Justice David Lok, said that there was an error in the total voter turnout and voter turnout rate announced after the election (i.e. voter turnout: 1 193 193 and voter turnout rate: 27.54 per cent). According to the post-election review conducted by the REO over election-related figures, the actual voter turnout should be 1 195 331 (an increase of 2 138) and the voter turnout rate should be 27.59 per cent (an increase of 0.05 percentage point).
The error was mainly due to the failure of the EPR system on the polling day, which activated the fallback mode for issuing ballot papers until the close of poll at midnight on the polling day. As the number of ballot papers issued during that period could not be counted by the EPR system, each polling station needed to conduct its own manual counting after the close of poll and fax the relevant statistics to the Statistical Information Centre of the Central Command Centre of the DCOE for consolidation. However, given the large number of polling stations and due to the tight timeframe for publishing the voter turnout, there was an error in the calculation by the electoral staff concerned, and the number of electors voted at dedicated polling stations (DPSs) (DPSs refer to polling stations set up in panel institutions and police stations for electors in custody to cast their votes) were omitted from the calculation. Notwithstanding, these ballot papers had been transported to the main counting stations for counting after the close of poll. Therefore, these votes had been counted in the actual counting of votes obtained by each candidate, and hence the election result was entirely not affected.
“The IG submitted the mid-term report to the CE today. Thereafter, the IG will continue to follow up on the investigation findings and analyses, and formulate recommendations with a view to preventing the recurrence of similar incidents as well as enhancing the electoral system and arrangements, to ensure the safe and effective conduct of future elections. In accordance with the statutory requirement, the EAC will submit a comprehensive election report to the CE within three months after the election. The detailed findings on the incident and the recommended improvement measures will be incorporated therein,” Mr Justice Lok concluded.
Hong Kong Customs yesterday (January 25) seized about 3.6 kilograms of suspected cocaine, about 600 grams of suspected cannabis buds, about 80g of suspected crack cocaine and a small amount of suspected cannabis oil, with a total estimated market value of about $3.8 million in Mong Kok, Yuen Long and Kwun Tong. Two men, aged 26 and 41, suspected to be connected with the case, were arrested.
During an anti-narcotics operation conducted in the vicinity of Hak Po Street, Mong Kok, yesterday evening, Customs officers intercepted two men and found about 1.1kg of suspected cocaine and about 100g of suspected cannabis buds, camouflaged as tea leaves, inside a vehicle driven by the 41-year-old man. The two men were subsequently arrested. Customs officers later escorted the other man, aged 26, to a residential flat nearby for a search and further seized about 80g of suspected crack cocaine and a batch of drug packaging paraphernalia therein.
Upon follow-up investigations, Customs officers further seized about 2.5kg of suspected cocaine and a batch of drug packaging paraphernalia in a residential flat rented by the 26-year-old man in Yuen Long. In addition, Customs officers seized about 500g of suspected cannabis buds, packed in tea leaf packaging bags, and a tiny amount of suspected cannabis oil in a subdivided unit owned by the 41-year-old man in Kwun Tong.
The two arrested persons have been jointly charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. The 26-year-old man who claimed to be a clerk has been additionally charged with two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug, whereas the 41-year-old man who claimed to be a driver has been additionally charged with one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug. They will appear at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow (January 27).
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.
Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).
The Immigration Department (ImmD) mounted a series of territory-wide anti-illegal worker operations codenamed “Contribute”, “Rally” and “Twilight”, and a joint operation with the Hong Kong Police Force codenamed “Windsand” for four consecutive days from January 22 to yesterday (January 25). A total of 15 suspected illegal workers, three suspected employers and one suspected aider and abettor were arrested.
During the anti-illegal worker operations, ImmD Task Force officers raided three target construction sites and 24 target locations including an elderly home, an exhibition hall, premises under renovation, residential buildings, restaurants and retail shops. Fifteen suspected illegal workers, three suspected employers and one suspected aider and abettor were arrested. The arrested suspected illegal workers comprised 11 men and four women, aged 23 to 57. Among them, one man was a holder of a recognisance form, which prohibits him from taking any employment; he was also suspected of using and being in possession of a Hong Kong identity card related to another person. Two men and one woman, aged 29 to 61, were suspected of employing the illegal workers and were also arrested. One woman, aged 52, was suspected of aiding and abetting a person who breached the conditions of stay in Hong Kong and was also arrested.
An ImmD spokesman said, “Any person who contravenes a condition of stay in force in respect of him or her shall be guilty of an offence. Also, visitors are not allowed to take employment in Hong Kong, whether paid or unpaid, without the permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years’ imprisonment. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalties.”
The spokesman warned, “As stipulated in section 38AA of the Immigration Ordinance, an illegal immigrant, a person who is the subject of a removal order or a deportation order, an overstayer or a person who was refused permission to land is prohibited from taking any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establishing or joining in any business. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to three years’ imprisonment. Under the prevailing laws, it is an offence to use or possess a forged Hong Kong identity card or a Hong Kong identity card related to another person. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years’ imprisonment.”
The spokesman reiterated that it is a serious offence to employ people who are not lawfully employable. Under the Immigration Ordinance, the maximum penalty for an employer employing a person who is not lawfully employable, i.e. an illegal immigrant, a person who is the subject of a removal order or a deportation order, an overstayer or a person who was refused permission to land, has been significantly increased from a fine of $350,000 and three years’ imprisonment to a fine of $500,000 and 10 years’ imprisonment to reflect the gravity of such offences. The director, manager, secretary, partner, etc, of the company concerned may also bear criminal liability. The High Court has laid down sentencing guidelines that the employer of an illegal worker should be given an immediate custodial sentence.
According to the court sentencing, employers must take all practicable steps to determine whether a person is lawfully employable prior to employment. Apart from inspecting a prospective employee’s identity card, the employer has the explicit duty to make enquiries regarding the person and ensure that the answers would not cast any reasonable doubt concerning the lawful employability of the person. The court will not accept failure to do so as a defence in proceedings. It is also an offence if an employer fails to inspect the job seeker’s valid travel document if the job seeker does not have a Hong Kong permanent identity card. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $150,000 and to imprisonment for one year. In that connection, the spokesman would like to remind all employers not to defy the law by employing illegal workers. The ImmD will continue to take resolute enforcement action to combat such offences.
Under the existing mechanism, the ImmD will, as a standard procedure, conduct an initial screening of vulnerable persons, including illegal workers, illegal immigrants, sex workers and foreign domestic helpers, who are arrested during any operation with a view to ascertaining whether they are trafficking in persons (TIP) victims. When any TIP indicator is revealed in the initial screening, the ImmD officers will conduct a full debriefing and identification by using a standardised checklist to ascertain the presence of TIP elements, such as threats and coercion in the recruitment phase and the nature of exploitation. Identified TIP victims will be provided with various forms of support and assistance, including urgent intervention, medical services, counselling, shelter or temporary accommodation and other supporting services. The ImmD calls on TIP victims to report crimes to the relevant departments immediately.
