Concrete Steps Taken to Enhance Civil Service Integrity
2000-1-20
Ten government departments have so far issued new or revised integrity guidelines for their staff under a civil service integrity programme jointly launched by the ICAC and the Civil Service Bureau (CSB).
The Commission is also discussing with the CSB with a view to setting up anti-corruption steering committees, similar to that of the police, at a number of departments which feature large staff size and have frequent day-to-day contacts with citizens.
These joint initiatives were disclosed at a media briefing hosted by the ICAC Commissioner, Mr Alan Lai Nin today.
Mr Lai said all the 21 departments visited by the joint ICAC-CSB task force in 1999 under the Civil Service Integrity Programme had committed to review, update or issue new codes or guidelines on areas including conflict of interest, acceptance of advanta ges and entertainment.
In addition to the 10 which had taken actions, the remaining 11 departments were either finalising their drafts or in the process of drafting or reviewing these codes or guidelines.
“And we will continue to visit the remaining 45 government departments this year,” he said.
On the proposed departmental anti-corruption committees, Mr Lai said he hoped another anti-corruption steering committee would soon be set up to emulate the success of the police in building up an ethical culture through such committee several years ago.
The Commission is now also studying, together with CSB, the need and feasibility of making “malfeasance” a statutory offence.
“Malfeasance is not a serious problem with the civil service at present. However, we think measures should be taken to prevent it from deteriorating into a corruption problem.” he said.
Malfeasance refers to misconduct in public office for personal gain.
Other efforts planned by the Commission to promote a high standard of integrity among civil servants include the launch of a half-yearly newsletter “Integrity On Line” this month and a handbook on ethics management for senior staff in March.
The Commission will also join hands with the CSB to host an international conference on ethics in March for over 600 local and overseas business and political leaders.
“The forum aims to brainstorm a way forward on ethics management in the public and private sectors,” Mr Lai remarked.
The Commissioner noted that the biggest challenge now facing law enforcement agencies worldwide was an anticipated surge in cross-boundary crimes amidst an explosive growth of e-commerce activities.
Following the setting up of a Computer Forensic and IT Research section in April 1999, the ICAC aims to provide basic computer forensic training for 650 front-line investigators in two years. So far, 220 investigators have received such training.
Mr Lai said how to combat cyber-crimes was expected to be a hot topic in an international anti-corruption symposium to be held by the Commission in November this year.
On youth moral education, Mr Lai said work already on the agenda included a report on youth behaviours on the Net, a youth workshop to study youth behavioural patterns on the Net, a youth web page and a youth summit in summer for young people to explore t heir roles in the new century.
Disclosing the overall corruption complaint situation in 1999, the Commissioner noted that a total of 3,561 corruption reports were received in 1999, compared with 3,555 reports a year ago.
Of them, 1,904 reports (or 54 percent) were against the private sector, up two per cent from that of 1998. Reports related to public bodies fell 11 percent to 212. Complaints concerning government departments fell one percent to 1,445.
Mr Lai said that the level of corruption complaints were affected by a variety of factors, such as widespread media coverage of major ICAC cases, proactive investigations by the Commission, lingering effect of the economic downturn and effective district promotion.
In addition to tough law enforcement, Mr Lai stressed that the Commission would spare no efforts to ensure that the clean culture nurtured over the years remains deeply rooted in Hong Kong, particularly among the next generation.
The Commission is also discussing with the CSB with a view to setting up anti-corruption steering committees, similar to that of the police, at a number of departments which feature large staff size and have frequent day-to-day contacts with citizens.
These joint initiatives were disclosed at a media briefing hosted by the ICAC Commissioner, Mr Alan Lai Nin today.
Mr Lai said all the 21 departments visited by the joint ICAC-CSB task force in 1999 under the Civil Service Integrity Programme had committed to review, update or issue new codes or guidelines on areas including conflict of interest, acceptance of advanta ges and entertainment.
In addition to the 10 which had taken actions, the remaining 11 departments were either finalising their drafts or in the process of drafting or reviewing these codes or guidelines.
“And we will continue to visit the remaining 45 government departments this year,” he said.
On the proposed departmental anti-corruption committees, Mr Lai said he hoped another anti-corruption steering committee would soon be set up to emulate the success of the police in building up an ethical culture through such committee several years ago.
The Commission is now also studying, together with CSB, the need and feasibility of making “malfeasance” a statutory offence.
“Malfeasance is not a serious problem with the civil service at present. However, we think measures should be taken to prevent it from deteriorating into a corruption problem.” he said.
Malfeasance refers to misconduct in public office for personal gain.
Other efforts planned by the Commission to promote a high standard of integrity among civil servants include the launch of a half-yearly newsletter “Integrity On Line” this month and a handbook on ethics management for senior staff in March.
The Commission will also join hands with the CSB to host an international conference on ethics in March for over 600 local and overseas business and political leaders.
“The forum aims to brainstorm a way forward on ethics management in the public and private sectors,” Mr Lai remarked.
The Commissioner noted that the biggest challenge now facing law enforcement agencies worldwide was an anticipated surge in cross-boundary crimes amidst an explosive growth of e-commerce activities.
Following the setting up of a Computer Forensic and IT Research section in April 1999, the ICAC aims to provide basic computer forensic training for 650 front-line investigators in two years. So far, 220 investigators have received such training.
Mr Lai said how to combat cyber-crimes was expected to be a hot topic in an international anti-corruption symposium to be held by the Commission in November this year.
On youth moral education, Mr Lai said work already on the agenda included a report on youth behaviours on the Net, a youth workshop to study youth behavioural patterns on the Net, a youth web page and a youth summit in summer for young people to explore t heir roles in the new century.
Disclosing the overall corruption complaint situation in 1999, the Commissioner noted that a total of 3,561 corruption reports were received in 1999, compared with 3,555 reports a year ago.
Of them, 1,904 reports (or 54 percent) were against the private sector, up two per cent from that of 1998. Reports related to public bodies fell 11 percent to 212. Complaints concerning government departments fell one percent to 1,445.
Mr Lai said that the level of corruption complaints were affected by a variety of factors, such as widespread media coverage of major ICAC cases, proactive investigations by the Commission, lingering effect of the economic downturn and effective district promotion.
In addition to tough law enforcement, Mr Lai stressed that the Commission would spare no efforts to ensure that the clean culture nurtured over the years remains deeply rooted in Hong Kong, particularly among the next generation.