ICAC continuously hones professional capability to deal with complex corruption crimes
2005-12-20
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) would continuously enhance its professional capability and intensify training in financial investigation to deal with challenges arising from the increasingly complex, globalised and sophisticated natur e of corruption-related crimes.
Speaking at an annual press briefing, Dr Raymond Ch'ien Kuo-fung, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Corruption today (Tuesday) noted that as an organisation continuously seeking improvement, the ICAC will also upgrade its staff training in legal proce sses and procedural compliance.
Co-hosting the press briefing were Chairman of the Operations Review Committee (ORC), Dr Andrew Chuang Siu-leung; Chairman of the Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee (CPAC), Mr Barry Cheung Chun-yuen; and Convenor of Community Research Sub-Committee (CRSC) of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations, Professor Joseph Chan Man.
Echoing similar views, Dr Chuang said given Hong Kong's role as an international financial centre, the ICAC would continue to hone its expertise in investigating cases involving listed companies, which were invariably complex and time consuming.
It was disclosed that despite a 1% drop in the number of corruption reports received in the first 11 months of this year, complaints classified as pursuable rose slightly by 3%.
Dr Ch’ien noted that in view of more pursuable reports and the increasingly sophisticated and protracted nature of many of corruption cases, the overall caseload faced by investigators remained heavy.
Of the 3,412 corruption reports received in the first 11 months of this year, 2,067 or 61 per cent concerned the private sector while 1,091 or 32% were against government departments and 254 or 7% related to public bodies.
According to Dr Chuang, while corruption reports concerning all government departments registered an 8% decrease, some areas deserved attention, including the awarding of contracts, accepting of substandard work or service, and lax supervision in works pr ojects.
Meanwhile, the ORC was also concerned about instances where some irresponsible law enforcement officers had associated with undesirable elements and abused their authority although the number of cases involving law enforcement personnel engaged in crimina l activities remained small.
Government departments were therefore urged to remain vigilant to minimise corruption opportunities and to promote a more effective culture of integrity, in particular, in terms of supervisory accountability.
In the private sector, the building management sector continued to attract the largest number of complaints, amounting to 43 per cent or 898 reports. While most of these reports were of a minor nature, there were indications of more serious corruption in the area of renovation contracts.
To complement operational efforts in this field, a Corruption Prevention Network for Property Management Companies, with a membership of 106 management staff from 52 property management companies, had been established to assist owners to properly manage t heir buildings, CRSC Convenor Professor Chan revealed.
The finance and insurance sector attracted 135 reports in the first 11 months - the second highest number in the private sector. Dr Chuang urged the management and practitioners in this sector to adopt a more proactive approach to internal governance and risk management.
Under a two-year Business Ethics Promotion Programme concluded this year, the ICAC had visited 740 listed companies to introduce its corruption prevention service. Over 27,000 staff, including 7,700 senior executives from these listed companies, had been reached.
While various elections held during the past two years were considered largely clean, Dr Chuang was concerned that many of the reported cases, such as allegations concerning failure to lodge election expenses returns, were trivial and technical in nature, and yet took up considerable resources in investigation.
On rural elections, although rural committee (RC) elections are governed by the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, there is no legislation in place to regulate the proceedings of the elections. The ORC urged the Administration to consider formulating related legislation to place future RC elections under legislative control.
In addition, Dr Chuang said as both Village Representatives (VRs) and members of rural committees carried out public duties, the Administration should consider including VRs and RCs as "public servants" and "public bodies" respectively under the Preventio n of Bribery Ordinance.
In the past year, preventive efforts had been focussed on issues of public concern, such as the reimbursement of operating expenses to members of the Legislative Council, procedures for administering the Continuing Education Fund and the management of pub lic mortuaries, CPAC Chairman Barry Cheung Chun-yuen remarked.
He added that the ICAC also participated in the preparation of major government projects to ensure early input of corruption prevention advice.
For example, in relation to the West Kowloon Cultural District Project, the Commission had offered corruption prevention advice over the handling of actual and perceived conflict of interest and protection of confidential information.
Expeditious corruption prevention advice has been provided to related organisations on completion of investigation of corruption cases. For example, the ICAC assisted the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to further strengthen its systems after the investiga tion of a corruption case involving an URA staff.
Mr Cheung said the ICAC would also continue to promptly follow up problems identified in corruption complaints, such as the outsourcing of cleaning and security services by government departments, as well as the monitoring of the use of government funds b y members of the District Council.
Mr Cheung added that in the coming year, the Commission would help review practices and procedures of the Link Management Ltd., and internal control mechanisms of non-government organisations which receive government subventions.
Meanwhile, the ICAC, with the assistance of trade associations and professional bodies, had promulgated a corruption prevention kit tailor-made to help companies with cross-border business to enhance ethical practices and to strengthen their systems to ma nage corruption risks.
Speaking at an annual press briefing, Dr Raymond Ch'ien Kuo-fung, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Corruption today (Tuesday) noted that as an organisation continuously seeking improvement, the ICAC will also upgrade its staff training in legal proce sses and procedural compliance.
Co-hosting the press briefing were Chairman of the Operations Review Committee (ORC), Dr Andrew Chuang Siu-leung; Chairman of the Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee (CPAC), Mr Barry Cheung Chun-yuen; and Convenor of Community Research Sub-Committee (CRSC) of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations, Professor Joseph Chan Man.
Echoing similar views, Dr Chuang said given Hong Kong's role as an international financial centre, the ICAC would continue to hone its expertise in investigating cases involving listed companies, which were invariably complex and time consuming.
It was disclosed that despite a 1% drop in the number of corruption reports received in the first 11 months of this year, complaints classified as pursuable rose slightly by 3%.
Dr Ch’ien noted that in view of more pursuable reports and the increasingly sophisticated and protracted nature of many of corruption cases, the overall caseload faced by investigators remained heavy.
Of the 3,412 corruption reports received in the first 11 months of this year, 2,067 or 61 per cent concerned the private sector while 1,091 or 32% were against government departments and 254 or 7% related to public bodies.
According to Dr Chuang, while corruption reports concerning all government departments registered an 8% decrease, some areas deserved attention, including the awarding of contracts, accepting of substandard work or service, and lax supervision in works pr ojects.
Meanwhile, the ORC was also concerned about instances where some irresponsible law enforcement officers had associated with undesirable elements and abused their authority although the number of cases involving law enforcement personnel engaged in crimina l activities remained small.
Government departments were therefore urged to remain vigilant to minimise corruption opportunities and to promote a more effective culture of integrity, in particular, in terms of supervisory accountability.
In the private sector, the building management sector continued to attract the largest number of complaints, amounting to 43 per cent or 898 reports. While most of these reports were of a minor nature, there were indications of more serious corruption in the area of renovation contracts.
To complement operational efforts in this field, a Corruption Prevention Network for Property Management Companies, with a membership of 106 management staff from 52 property management companies, had been established to assist owners to properly manage t heir buildings, CRSC Convenor Professor Chan revealed.
The finance and insurance sector attracted 135 reports in the first 11 months - the second highest number in the private sector. Dr Chuang urged the management and practitioners in this sector to adopt a more proactive approach to internal governance and risk management.
Under a two-year Business Ethics Promotion Programme concluded this year, the ICAC had visited 740 listed companies to introduce its corruption prevention service. Over 27,000 staff, including 7,700 senior executives from these listed companies, had been reached.
While various elections held during the past two years were considered largely clean, Dr Chuang was concerned that many of the reported cases, such as allegations concerning failure to lodge election expenses returns, were trivial and technical in nature, and yet took up considerable resources in investigation.
On rural elections, although rural committee (RC) elections are governed by the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, there is no legislation in place to regulate the proceedings of the elections. The ORC urged the Administration to consider formulating related legislation to place future RC elections under legislative control.
In addition, Dr Chuang said as both Village Representatives (VRs) and members of rural committees carried out public duties, the Administration should consider including VRs and RCs as "public servants" and "public bodies" respectively under the Preventio n of Bribery Ordinance.
In the past year, preventive efforts had been focussed on issues of public concern, such as the reimbursement of operating expenses to members of the Legislative Council, procedures for administering the Continuing Education Fund and the management of pub lic mortuaries, CPAC Chairman Barry Cheung Chun-yuen remarked.
He added that the ICAC also participated in the preparation of major government projects to ensure early input of corruption prevention advice.
For example, in relation to the West Kowloon Cultural District Project, the Commission had offered corruption prevention advice over the handling of actual and perceived conflict of interest and protection of confidential information.
Expeditious corruption prevention advice has been provided to related organisations on completion of investigation of corruption cases. For example, the ICAC assisted the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to further strengthen its systems after the investiga tion of a corruption case involving an URA staff.
Mr Cheung said the ICAC would also continue to promptly follow up problems identified in corruption complaints, such as the outsourcing of cleaning and security services by government departments, as well as the monitoring of the use of government funds b y members of the District Council.
Mr Cheung added that in the coming year, the Commission would help review practices and procedures of the Link Management Ltd., and internal control mechanisms of non-government organisations which receive government subventions.
Meanwhile, the ICAC, with the assistance of trade associations and professional bodies, had promulgated a corruption prevention kit tailor-made to help companies with cross-border business to enhance ethical practices and to strengthen their systems to ma nage corruption risks.