Government bureaus and departments will continue to follow the internal guidelines on recovering the receivables from defaulters, Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury James Lau said.

Mr Lau told lawmakers today that according to the existing guidelines, Controlling Officers are responsible for prompt collection and for taking timely and appropriate actions to recover money owned for revenue within their jurisdiction. 

They should ensure appropriate arrangements are made and put in place in their bureaus or departments so if a payment is not received within a reasonable time, appropriate and timely follow up actions are taken to recover the money owed.

They should consider writing off the receivables only after all exhaustive actions taken to recover the amounts have failed and upon seeking the legal advice.

Mr Lau said the total amount written off by the Government due to default payments in the past three years is $290 million in 2015-16, $282 million in 2016-17, and $541 million in 2017-18.

He added all bureaus and departments will continue to strictly adhere to the guidelines and recover by different means the receivables from defaulters, including local and non-local residents.