Lai See | Elsie Leung caught up in Rusal's byzantine politics
June is looming and that means it's AGM time for Rusal, when a little light is shed on its byzantine politics. The run-up to last year's meeting was enlivened by speculation over whether or not there would be a move to replace then chairman of the board Barry Cheung Chun-yuen. Despite intense speculation that he would be, he wasn't, though he was three months later and remains an independent non-executive director.
This year the attention has shifted to the other Hong Kong independent non-executive director - Elsie Leung Oi-sie, the former secretary for justice.
Sual Partners which owns 15.8 per cent of Rusal has introduced a resolution to the AGM calling for Leung to be replaced by its own candidate. Sual is headed by Viktor Vekselberg, the former chairman of the Rusal board whose acrimonious resignation early last year paved the way for Cheung's chairmanship.
The Rusal board has responded to the Sual resolution with its own which expresses confidence in Leung and a desire that she should remain a director. Vekselberg has been unhappy with a number of Rusal's actions, some of which have been approved by the board. It may be that Leung has been targeted by Vekselberg on account of some of these decisions which were cleared by the audit committee on which she sits. But why she should be singled out is unclear since two other independents also sit on the committee - Nigel Kenny and Philip Lader. Kenny chairs the committee, and both are up for reappointment this year, whereas Leung has another year to serve.
So despite promises of a rethink, the Environmental Protection Department has included the Shek Wu Chau incinerator in its report, "Hong Kong: Blueprint for Sustainable Use of Resources 2013-2022", released yesterday. There is a lot to applaud in it but it will disappoint green groups who'd been hoping that the government would take another look at the proposed technology as well as reconsider its location. There is a lack of public confidence here over incineration.
