poor. On 7 November and 9 November 2003, the Rolling Stones played their first ever concerts in Hong Kong, as part of Harbour Fest. Controversies This cost was criticised by legislators and critics as too expensive. The underwriting cost soon went up to HK$100 million. The Democratic Party surveyed 900 members of the public, and established that more than 50% of the polled believe the government was wasting public money on the Harbour Fest, and Ma Lik said the government appeared to act as if it had received carte blanche. On 21 October, AmCham announced that previously billed Cantopop artists Andy Hui, Joey Yung and Nicholas Tse would no longer appear due to artists prior commitments. The artists' agent, Emperor Entertainment Group, however, alleges that AmCham had dropped them from the billings. The organisers then decided to give away tickets for the concert which was to have featured Atomic Kitten, which dropped out due to illness of singer Natasha Hamilton. The distribution of free tickets to see the remaining acts Twins and t.A.T.u. was marred by scuffles at outlets which saw tickets snapped up within 30 minutes. Many hundreds who had queued up for many hours were furious. The appearance of the Rolling Stones was shrouded in confusion until 14 October, when their two nights at the festival were finally confirmed. They were reportedly paid US$5 million for the concerts. Aftermath Independent inquiry An Independent Panel of Inquiry headed by Moses Cheng was commissioned to review and investigate the handling of the Harbour Fest, and a report of the Harbour Fest was issued in May 2004. Public Accounts Committee report In June 2004, a legislative council Public Accounts Committee report criticised InvestHK for improper stewardship of taxpayers' money over the organisation of Harbour Fest music festival, a post-SARS event held in an attempt to restore business confidence in Hong Kong. Rowse was charged with five offences: failure to introduce provisions to give the Government power of approval over program and budget changes failure to provide refund in a sponsorship agreement with the American Chamber of Commerce for events not held, and for the Chamber to regularly report on progress, and to consult with Government on ticketing strategy failure to review ticket pricing strategy and free ticket distribution failure to establish a mechanism for InvestHK to scrutinise budget and expenditure of the event Rowse was held responsible only for the fifth