News reports from “the freest economy on the planet.”

Excerpted from today’s SCMP:

Lawmakers have rejected a motion to use their special powers to compel the government to produce all of its correspondence with Henderson Land over the mysterious cancellation of 20 of 24 sales at Henderson’s luxury 39 Conduit Road development in Mid-Levels.

A motion moved by the Democratic Party’s Lee Wing-tat – seeking to empower the housing panel to use the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance to order Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng to submit all correspondence between the Lands Department and the developer relating to the case – was vetoed yesterday.

The motion was supported by most pan-democrats, and opposed by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and pro-business lawmakers. The health services sector’s Dr Joseph Lee Kok-long was the only pan-democrat who voted against the  motion.

The League of Social Democrats and the Federation of Trade Unions did not vote.

Questions have been raised over the cancellation of the sales at the development. They were among 24 high-priced transactions publicised by Henderson in a move many saw as a fraudulent attempt to boost prices.

One of the cancelled deals involved a duplex which Henderson reported was sold for a record-high HK$88,000 per square foot. The subsequent cancellation of the deal triggered accusations of market manipulation.

Doubts have also been raised about the revelation that buyers forfeited only five per cent of the reported purchase prices and were not asked to compensate the developer for any losses on resale.

Cheng said yesterday that the motion was unnecessary because the administration had already submitted all the letters concerned to Legco and there were no more it could provide.

But Lee was unconvinced that the information produced by the government was exhaustive, saying the bureau had only supplied more documents after he threatened to seek use of the ordinance.

The only thing that would have been surprising would have been if the motion had passed.

And ya gotta love this one, also in the SCMP:

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung admitted on Monday that some workers with low levels of productivity could lose their jobs after the implementation of the minimum wage law.

Legco finally passed the minimum wage law – without setting a specific rate – after a 41-hour debate by lawmakers last week.

The introduction of a minimum wage law is opposed by some employers, restaurant owners and representatives of the tourist sector who argue it will result in higher costs and unemployment in some industries. But supporters, including many lawmakers and unionists, said the legislation was long overdue, because too many workers earned low salaries

See, since they haven’t set the actual minimum wage yet, the scare tactics continue but this is really reaching a new level of insanity:  ”Oooh, with the minimum wage, people who suck at their jobs will get fired!”  Even the headline was more scare-mongering – “Cheung warns wage law may lead to job losses” – of course many people only read the headlines and not the stories underneath.