Effective anti-corruption work conducive to economic development, says ICAC Commissioner
2008-3-19
ICAC Commissioner, Timothy Tong Hin-ming, said the Commission this year would focus efforts on community-based corruption prevention work and make endeavour to maintain a clean city for the benefit of economic development.
Speaking at a media reception today (Wednesday), Mr Tong said a large number of the corruption reports received in recent years, about 900 corruption reports a year, were related to building management.
Besides setting up an internal task force to investigate the cases, the ICAC would launch a territory-wide programme to promote clean building management, including a guidebook on renovation works, an enquiry hotline and a dedicated website, in partnershi p with the Home Affairs Department, the Buildings Department and the Hong Kong Housing Society.
In light of the growing insurance market, the ICAC would produce a corruption prevention training package and promote ethical practices in the industry.
Mr Tong said to promote a sustainable economic development, the ICAC would for the first time set up a working group with representatives from its three departments to study recent cases involving listed companies and make recommendations to plug corrupti on pitfalls.
The ICAC will also join hands with regulatory bodies to formulate guidelines to enhance ethical management of listed companies.
The ICAC and the Guangdong Provincial People’s Procuratorate would jointly launch a corruption prevention guidebook tailor-made for Hong Kong’s small and medium enterprises operating across the border next month.
According to an opinion survey conducted by an independent research agency late last year, over 40 per cent of the respondents said the ICAC should expend equal effort to curb corruption in both the government and the business sectors, while about 32 per cent believed the ICAC should give priority to tackling corruption in the business sector –'96 the highest proportion ever recorded.
Mr Tong said whilst corruption reports concerning the private sector remained high and cases became increasingly sophisticated, the ICAC had maintained its effectiveness in fighting corruption with a case-based conviction rate averaging over 80 per cent.
He also noted that sustained campaigns to promote clean public elections over the years had yielded positive result.
Reports received by the ICAC in relation to the 1998 Legislative Council (Legco) Election totaled over 500 and the figure for the 2004 Legco Election was only about 160. For the 2003 District Council Election, the ICAC received about 1,000 reports. As r egards the 2007 District Council Election, about 650 reports were received so far.
Most of the reports concerning elections were of minor nature involving technical breaches.
The Commissioner revealed that the ICAC had formulated a comprehensive education and publicity drive for the Legislative Council Election to be held in September this year.
The ICAC has started to approach political parties, professional bodies and chambers of commerce to offer its service while an enquiry hotline on election will be set up next month.
The Commissioner pointed out that the civil service remained clean with corruption reports related to government departments dropping from 1,288 in 1997 to 975 last year. Complaints against the Police also fell from about 512 in 1997 to 318 last year.
Mr Tong added that concerns about a possible deterioration in the corruption situation in Hong Kong and ICAC’s effectiveness after the handover had proved to be completely unfounded.
In the past decade, Hong Kong had been consistently rated as one of the cleanest places in the world by various international surveys with its ranking gradually going up over the years, Mr Tong said.
Speaking at a media reception today (Wednesday), Mr Tong said a large number of the corruption reports received in recent years, about 900 corruption reports a year, were related to building management.
Besides setting up an internal task force to investigate the cases, the ICAC would launch a territory-wide programme to promote clean building management, including a guidebook on renovation works, an enquiry hotline and a dedicated website, in partnershi p with the Home Affairs Department, the Buildings Department and the Hong Kong Housing Society.
In light of the growing insurance market, the ICAC would produce a corruption prevention training package and promote ethical practices in the industry.
Mr Tong said to promote a sustainable economic development, the ICAC would for the first time set up a working group with representatives from its three departments to study recent cases involving listed companies and make recommendations to plug corrupti on pitfalls.
The ICAC will also join hands with regulatory bodies to formulate guidelines to enhance ethical management of listed companies.
The ICAC and the Guangdong Provincial People’s Procuratorate would jointly launch a corruption prevention guidebook tailor-made for Hong Kong’s small and medium enterprises operating across the border next month.
According to an opinion survey conducted by an independent research agency late last year, over 40 per cent of the respondents said the ICAC should expend equal effort to curb corruption in both the government and the business sectors, while about 32 per cent believed the ICAC should give priority to tackling corruption in the business sector –'96 the highest proportion ever recorded.
Mr Tong said whilst corruption reports concerning the private sector remained high and cases became increasingly sophisticated, the ICAC had maintained its effectiveness in fighting corruption with a case-based conviction rate averaging over 80 per cent.
He also noted that sustained campaigns to promote clean public elections over the years had yielded positive result.
Reports received by the ICAC in relation to the 1998 Legislative Council (Legco) Election totaled over 500 and the figure for the 2004 Legco Election was only about 160. For the 2003 District Council Election, the ICAC received about 1,000 reports. As r egards the 2007 District Council Election, about 650 reports were received so far.
Most of the reports concerning elections were of minor nature involving technical breaches.
The Commissioner revealed that the ICAC had formulated a comprehensive education and publicity drive for the Legislative Council Election to be held in September this year.
The ICAC has started to approach political parties, professional bodies and chambers of commerce to offer its service while an enquiry hotline on election will be set up next month.
The Commissioner pointed out that the civil service remained clean with corruption reports related to government departments dropping from 1,288 in 1997 to 975 last year. Complaints against the Police also fell from about 512 in 1997 to 318 last year.
Mr Tong added that concerns about a possible deterioration in the corruption situation in Hong Kong and ICAC’s effectiveness after the handover had proved to be completely unfounded.
In the past decade, Hong Kong had been consistently rated as one of the cleanest places in the world by various international surveys with its ranking gradually going up over the years, Mr Tong said.