TO counter claims that Hong Kong people, as owners of the Overseas Trust Bank, have been kept in the dark throughout its selling process, the Government yesterday took the initiative to try to give ''a coherent picture'' of the whole deal.
The cost of rescuing the bank was revealed as $4 billion, but other information such as names of other potential buyers, reasons why they did not succeed, and how well the Government has done regarding managing OTB's bad loans remains closed to the public for reasons of confidentiality.
In a bid to enhance transparency, the Government displayed its goodwill by explaining what is going on with the sale at present, what can be expected later, and what information we are not going to be told.
Guoco Group has entered into the due diligence period during which it has a chance to look at OTB's accounts.
''Since the information about the bank could be of potential commercial interest to other banks, we could only reveal a limited amount of information during the bidding process and before the due diligence period,'' Financial Services Secretary Michael Cartland said.
What the Government did was give a series of warranties in the sale and purchase agreement concerning certain important but not yet discloseable information.