Payments go into 2,300 wrong MPF accounts
About 2,300 of the city's 7 million MPF accounts have been wrongly topped up with a government handout of HK$6,000 aimed at low- income people.
Disclosing this yesterday, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority did not rule out the possibility that more cases of money being paid into the accounts of people earning more than HK$10,000 a month would be discovered.
Authority chief operating officer Hendena Yu Hoi-ping said the authority was empowered by law to withdraw the mistaken payments.
But she said none of the erroneous payments had been withdrawn yet as the authority had to write to the people involved first.
Early next month, Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah will request that the authority tell the Legislative Council's panel on financial affairs about the time and manpower required to retrieve the wrong payments.
Finance chief John Tsang Chun-wah announced a one-off giveaway in his maiden budget last year, saying that the government would put HK$9 billion into the pension accounts of about 1.4 million workers whose monthly income was less than HK$10,000.
Ms Yu said earlier that people who noticed the wrongful payments and did not report them would not face punishment.
But yesterday she said the authority was looking at the issue further.
'We have to further study it and seek legal advice on the matter,' she said.
The authority acted to disclose confirmed cases of mistaken payments after repeated media reports of wrongful payments into the accounts of people with incomes over the HK$10,00 limit set under the scheme.
Inaccurate salary records submitted by employers and MPF trustees caused some of the wrongful payments, Ms Yu said. Apart from random checks conducted by the authority, Ms Yu said the wrongly topped up cases came to light through reports from some MPF trustees and in the media.
'Mistakes cannot be avoided as we have to assess such a huge amount of information,' Ms Yu said.
'But the authority can withdraw the HK$6,000 in case of any wrong payments. Taxpayers' money will not be wasted.'
People who receive written notification of mistaken payments can apply to appeal within three weeks, requesting a review of their eligibility.
The authority had also received 110 responses concerning the wrong payments, including about 60 from people wondering why they were eligible for the payments.
A handful of those declared they did not need the payments regardless of their eligibility.
From Monday, a hotline will be in operation at 2926 6000 to handle general inquiries and queries about eligibility for the payment.
It will operate from 8.45am to 5.45pm.
Those who believe they are eligible for the one-off payment but have not received any notification have until September 30 to appeal.
Cash handout
The government said it would put HK$9 billion into the MPF accounts of about 1.4 million low-income workers
Accounts of workers paid less than HK$10,000 a month were to receive, in HK dollars, $6,000
