Lawmaker-cum-restaurateur Andrew Chan Chak Mo, who chairs the Legislative Assembly’s 2^nd Standing Committee, said yesterday that it is not necessary for everyone who is involved in the junket business but only for certain individuals or entities to comply with the legal obligation of disclosing information to the government.

The committee is reviewing a government-initiated bill regulating the city’s junket operators – officially known as gaming promoters.

Addressing a press briefing after yesterday’s closed-door meeting reviewing the junket bill, Chan quoted the committee members as saying that the disclosure obligation proposed in the previous version of the bill “gave too much power to the government” as it required everyone in the junket business to abide by the official disclosure obligation. Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong and other government officials attended yesterday’s meeting.

According to Chan, the latest version of the bill proposes that certain entities such as the gaming concession companies, junkets, and related management companies, would be deemed ineligible if they do not comply with the disclosure obligation during their eligibility assessment, in which the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) would require such individuals and entities to provide certain documents, information or evidence necessary to prove their eligibility.

The bill also proposes that employment contracts terminated due to a court dissolution order, the imposition of additional penalties or the imposition of administrative penalties will be considered unreasonable dismissals, according to the latest version of the bill.

Chan quoted some committee members as pointing out that the government should order a precautionary suspension in any case where the entity involved would cause serious or irreparable damage to the public interest and where the entity would be likely to destroy evidence.

Chan quoted the government as saying that the government would add an article proposing that staff dismissals for such reasons would also be considered unreasonable.

Chan said that his committee has finished its article-by-article review of the bill, after which the committee and the government’s group of legal advisors will hold technical meetings to further discuss the bill’s wording, adding that he expected the bill to be presented to the Legislative Assembly (AL) for its final article-by-article debate and vote during a plenary session in the middle of November, i.e., after the summer recess that begins on September 1.

Chan quoted the government officials as saying that the government would consider to standardise the effective date of the bill, as the bill would only take effect one day after the effective date of the agreement signed between the government and the future gaming concessionaires resulting from the current tender for up to six gaming concessions. 

Lawmaker-cum-restaurateur Andrew Chan Chak Mo (left), who chairs the legislature’s 2nd Standing Committee, talks to reporters yesterday after the committee’s closed-door meeting reviewing the government’s junket bill, as the committee’s secretary, Lam Lon Wai, looks on. – Photo: Ginnie Liang