ICAC Response Statement
2006-10-9
In response to press enquiries about the results of a survey released by Control Risks Group, an ICAC spokesman today made the following statement:
“We note that the sample size of this survey is relatively small while the results in regard to Hong Kong’s perceived corruption situation are inconsistent with a number of other authoritative regional and international surveys which found Hong Kong has a clean and fair business environment.
For example, in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2006, among the 11,000 business executives surveyed, a vast majority did not consider corruption a problematic factor for doing business in Hong Kong.
The Corruption Perceptions Index, released by the Berlin-based Transparency International on October 18, 2005, ranked Hong Kong as the 15th least corrupt place among 159 places surveyed . In this Index, 12 regional and international surveys were used to assess Hong Kong’s perceived corruption situation.
Meanwhile, the ICAC Annual Survey 2005 also found that about 95% of the over 1,500 respondents said they had not come across corruption in the past 12 months.
Hong Kong has very strong anti-corruption laws covering bribery in the public and private sectors, which have been vigorously and effectively enforced by the anti-corruption agency.
According to ICAC intelligence, there is no sign showing corruption of a serious scale in both the public and private sectors. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and take relentless actions against anyone breaching the anti-bribery laws in Hong Kong.”
“We note that the sample size of this survey is relatively small while the results in regard to Hong Kong’s perceived corruption situation are inconsistent with a number of other authoritative regional and international surveys which found Hong Kong has a clean and fair business environment.
For example, in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2006, among the 11,000 business executives surveyed, a vast majority did not consider corruption a problematic factor for doing business in Hong Kong.
The Corruption Perceptions Index, released by the Berlin-based Transparency International on October 18, 2005, ranked Hong Kong as the 15th least corrupt place among 159 places surveyed . In this Index, 12 regional and international surveys were used to assess Hong Kong’s perceived corruption situation.
Meanwhile, the ICAC Annual Survey 2005 also found that about 95% of the over 1,500 respondents said they had not come across corruption in the past 12 months.
Hong Kong has very strong anti-corruption laws covering bribery in the public and private sectors, which have been vigorously and effectively enforced by the anti-corruption agency.
According to ICAC intelligence, there is no sign showing corruption of a serious scale in both the public and private sectors. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and take relentless actions against anyone breaching the anti-bribery laws in Hong Kong.”