ICAC e-newsletter reveals listed company cases
2007-6-28
The latest issue of ICAC's electronic newsletter – ICAC Post – reveals common malpractice in corruption and fraud cases involving listed companies.
In an interview with the newsletter, ICAC's Assistant Director of Operations, Mr Ricky Chu Man-kin, said corruption very often acted as a lubricant in cases of corporate fraud, which could hardly succeed without the help of corrupt professionals such as financial controllers, financial advisors, accountants and analysts.
"In these cases, corruption was part and parcel of a bigger fraudulent scheme. The culprits were sometimes charged with criminal offences like conspiracy to defraud to better reflect the nature of the scam or because such offences are supported by strong er evidence," he said.
Last year, up to 66 per cent of the defendants in private sector cases completed were professionals or senior company executives. During the year, private sector corruption reports took up 61 per cent of total corruption reports, the highest proportion s ince the ICAC's inception.
Mr Chu said the ICAC must equip its officers with the necessary expertise and investigative skills, especially in financial investigations and forensic analysis.
Last year, the ICAC's Financial Investigation Section investigated 8,200 financial transactions involving $6.46 billion, while the Computer Forensics Section conducted 288 computer data analyses.
The ICAC has so far visited over 840 listed companies to introduce its corruption prevention services. Most of them had formulated or reviewed their staff code of conduct or arranged staff integrity training with ICAC's assistance. Over 43,000 staff, including 10,000 senior executives from these listed companies, had been reached through ICAC seminars and talks.
Meanwhile, in September this year, the ICAC will join hands with regulators, professional bodies and major chambers of commerce to launch a training programme for company directors to promote good corporate governance. An information pack has also been produced to familiarise overseas investors with the anti-corruption regime in Hong Kong.
The newsletter also featured a major commercial corruption case involving an executive director of a listed company and three others, who orchestrated a graft scam to push up the company's share price. In this case, $1.8 million was paid as bribe money.
Members of the public can access the newsletter on the ICAC website ( www.icac.org.hk ).
In an interview with the newsletter, ICAC's Assistant Director of Operations, Mr Ricky Chu Man-kin, said corruption very often acted as a lubricant in cases of corporate fraud, which could hardly succeed without the help of corrupt professionals such as financial controllers, financial advisors, accountants and analysts.
"In these cases, corruption was part and parcel of a bigger fraudulent scheme. The culprits were sometimes charged with criminal offences like conspiracy to defraud to better reflect the nature of the scam or because such offences are supported by strong er evidence," he said.
Last year, up to 66 per cent of the defendants in private sector cases completed were professionals or senior company executives. During the year, private sector corruption reports took up 61 per cent of total corruption reports, the highest proportion s ince the ICAC's inception.
Mr Chu said the ICAC must equip its officers with the necessary expertise and investigative skills, especially in financial investigations and forensic analysis.
Last year, the ICAC's Financial Investigation Section investigated 8,200 financial transactions involving $6.46 billion, while the Computer Forensics Section conducted 288 computer data analyses.
The ICAC has so far visited over 840 listed companies to introduce its corruption prevention services. Most of them had formulated or reviewed their staff code of conduct or arranged staff integrity training with ICAC's assistance. Over 43,000 staff, including 10,000 senior executives from these listed companies, had been reached through ICAC seminars and talks.
Meanwhile, in September this year, the ICAC will join hands with regulators, professional bodies and major chambers of commerce to launch a training programme for company directors to promote good corporate governance. An information pack has also been produced to familiarise overseas investors with the anti-corruption regime in Hong Kong.
The newsletter also featured a major commercial corruption case involving an executive director of a listed company and three others, who orchestrated a graft scam to push up the company's share price. In this case, $1.8 million was paid as bribe money.
Members of the public can access the newsletter on the ICAC website ( www.icac.org.hk ).