Clueless MTR Ex-boss Didn't Deserve A Bonus'

Roundtable lawmaker Michael Tien on Friday accused the MTR Corporation of making poor decisions about bonuses for two of its former senior executives, saying they paid one too much, and ‘unfairly’ slashed payments to another.

The railway revealed in its annual report on Thursday that former projects director Philco Wong was given HK$400,000 in performance-related bonuses last year – down 75 percent from what he pocketed in 2017.

Retired CEO Lincoln Leong got HK$700,000 – an almost 85 percent cut from the previous year.

Tien, who used to be chairman of the KCRC, said Wong deserved most of the blame over an ongoing construction scandal at the Hung Hom station of the troubled Shatin-to-Central Link.

The construction has been plagued by allegations of substandard work and missing documents, and Wong had quit last August after the government demanded heads to roll over the scandal.

Tien said given that Wong had only worked for seven months last year, and he seems to “know nothing” about what his subordinates were doing, he should have received no bonus at all.

But the lawmaker said the cut to Leong’s bonus appears to be a political decision.

“The recent scandal has nothing to do with operation or financial mismanagement. It has everything to do with… the Shatin-to-Central link,” he said.

“I think it’s unfair to hold the CEO accountable in terms of slashing his bonus even more than the projects director. I think the decision on the CEO’s package reduction is probably a very political one,” Tien added.

But Civic Party lawmaker Jeremy Tam says neither should have been given any bonuses at all, saying he believes the general public “will agree we are not satisfied with their performance.”