Corruption remains under control with growing public awareness
2005-6-22
The ICAC continues to keep corruption under control while fostering a culture of probity across the community through its proactive and comprehensive anti-corruption strategy.
Presenting the 2004 ICAC Annual Report at the Legislative Council today (Wednesday), Legislative Councillor and member of the Advisory Committee on Corruption, Mr Sin Chung-kai, said corruption continued to be kept in check last year as a result of the Co mmission’s unrelenting anti-corruption efforts and growing public vigilance.
In 2004, corruption reports declined 13 per cent to 3,746 from 4,310 in the previous year.
Complaints concerning the private sector continued to take up a higher proportion - 58 per cent of the total, while government departments and public bodies respectively accounted for 34 per cent and eight per cent.
Mr Sin also noted that last year marked the Commission's 30th Anniversary, and the community's enthusiastic participation in various anniversary activities reflected immense public support for ICAC’s anti-corruption work.
In the Annual Report, ICAC Commissioner Raymond Wong Hung-chiu pointed out that last year saw an enlightening development in the growing public awareness of corruption prevention with an increased number of public and private organisations seeking advice on tendering, procurement, management systems and other corruption-prone areas.
Apart from 96 corruption prevention studies conducted for government departments and public bodies, the ICAC also provided timely advice to these organisations on 289 occasions during the formulation of new legislation, policies or procedures to minimise corruption opportunities.
On the enforcement side, a total of 417 persons were prosecuted in 222 cases while another 77 were charged in 40 election-related cases last year. The overall case-based conviction rate stood at 84 per cent.
“The enforcement results mirrored in part the success of the proactive strategy adopted, in which undercover operations, use of informants, and the development and analysis of intelligence have been successfully combined to enhance the detection of corrupt ion, which might otherwise go unreported,” said Mr Wong.
To maintain a high level of operational efficiency and investigative capability, eight investigators and 38 assistant investigators were recruited last year to replenish manpower loss due to natural wastage.
To enhance staff’s professionalism, the ICAC continued to provide a wide range of continuation training opportunities. Officers were sent to attend overseas training courses including the Australian Police Management Development Programme, the United Kingdom National Und ercover Training Course, and the International Law Enforcement Agency professional courses conducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mr Wong revealed that to cope with rapid advances in information technology development, the Commission was mapping out a comprehensive information technology development strategy, to be implemented in stages, to enhance information-sharing capacity, supp ort for frontline investigations, communications in field operations and computer forensics capability.
In 2004, the ICAC’s Computer Forensics Section offered assistance to retrieve, secure and analyse electronic data on a record high of 160 occasions.
To strengthen international co-operation and keep abreast of latest development in the field, the ICAC has actively participated in the Interpol Asia-South Pacific Working Party on Information Technology Crime.
The Financial Investigation Section, meanwhile, assisted in 115 cases which involved 524 target persons and companies, and 1,305 transactions worth over $1.4 billion in total.
Looking ahead, the Commissioner expected the purpose-built ICAC Headquarters building, to be completed in 2007, to bring stronger solidarity and cohesiveness amongst staff members, and enable more efficient pool support resources and equipment in the figh t against corruption.
Presenting the 2004 ICAC Annual Report at the Legislative Council today (Wednesday), Legislative Councillor and member of the Advisory Committee on Corruption, Mr Sin Chung-kai, said corruption continued to be kept in check last year as a result of the Co mmission’s unrelenting anti-corruption efforts and growing public vigilance.
In 2004, corruption reports declined 13 per cent to 3,746 from 4,310 in the previous year.
Complaints concerning the private sector continued to take up a higher proportion - 58 per cent of the total, while government departments and public bodies respectively accounted for 34 per cent and eight per cent.
Mr Sin also noted that last year marked the Commission's 30th Anniversary, and the community's enthusiastic participation in various anniversary activities reflected immense public support for ICAC’s anti-corruption work.
In the Annual Report, ICAC Commissioner Raymond Wong Hung-chiu pointed out that last year saw an enlightening development in the growing public awareness of corruption prevention with an increased number of public and private organisations seeking advice on tendering, procurement, management systems and other corruption-prone areas.
Apart from 96 corruption prevention studies conducted for government departments and public bodies, the ICAC also provided timely advice to these organisations on 289 occasions during the formulation of new legislation, policies or procedures to minimise corruption opportunities.
On the enforcement side, a total of 417 persons were prosecuted in 222 cases while another 77 were charged in 40 election-related cases last year. The overall case-based conviction rate stood at 84 per cent.
“The enforcement results mirrored in part the success of the proactive strategy adopted, in which undercover operations, use of informants, and the development and analysis of intelligence have been successfully combined to enhance the detection of corrupt ion, which might otherwise go unreported,” said Mr Wong.
To maintain a high level of operational efficiency and investigative capability, eight investigators and 38 assistant investigators were recruited last year to replenish manpower loss due to natural wastage.
To enhance staff’s professionalism, the ICAC continued to provide a wide range of continuation training opportunities. Officers were sent to attend overseas training courses including the Australian Police Management Development Programme, the United Kingdom National Und ercover Training Course, and the International Law Enforcement Agency professional courses conducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mr Wong revealed that to cope with rapid advances in information technology development, the Commission was mapping out a comprehensive information technology development strategy, to be implemented in stages, to enhance information-sharing capacity, supp ort for frontline investigations, communications in field operations and computer forensics capability.
In 2004, the ICAC’s Computer Forensics Section offered assistance to retrieve, secure and analyse electronic data on a record high of 160 occasions.
To strengthen international co-operation and keep abreast of latest development in the field, the ICAC has actively participated in the Interpol Asia-South Pacific Working Party on Information Technology Crime.
The Financial Investigation Section, meanwhile, assisted in 115 cases which involved 524 target persons and companies, and 1,305 transactions worth over $1.4 billion in total.
Looking ahead, the Commissioner expected the purpose-built ICAC Headquarters building, to be completed in 2007, to bring stronger solidarity and cohesiveness amongst staff members, and enable more efficient pool support resources and equipment in the figh t against corruption.