Civil service urged to brace itself for new challenges in graft fight
2011-11-11
While Hong Kong’s civil service was recognised as highly efficient and clean, it should brace itself for new challenges in the fight against corruption brought by socio-economic changes, said ICAC Commissioner Dr Timothy Tong Hin-ming.
As a continuous effort to boost civil service integrity, the ICAC would launch a comprehensive reference package and a training video for government departments, targeting in particular how civil servants should manage conflict of interest situations.
A regional conference was co-hosted by the Hong Kong ICAC, the Ministry of Supervision (MOS) and the Commission Against Corruption of Macao (CCAC) in the past two days to expound on building up a clean civil service through systemic prevention and integri ty management.
Dr Tong noted that notwithstanding the different challenges Hong Kong, the Mainland and Macao were facing amidst rapid economic growth, anti-graft agencies of the three places shared the same goal in fighting corruption. Exchanges between the three places could therefore help promote a clean culture, perfect systems and foster ethical management, he added.
Dr Tong revealed that the three places were looking into the feasibility of further cooperation under their respective legal framework, such as identifying joint research projects, organising thematic workshops and producing cross-boundary educational mat erials.
He also noted that although rules and preventive measures might deter malpractices, fostering a probity culture in the civil service was the key to managing irregularities such as conflict of interest.
Since the first ICAC prosecution of misconduct in public office in 1998, the Commission had since then brought 45 public officials to court under the Common Law offence, among them 36 were civil servants.
The Commissioner said while those malpractices appeared to have no connection with bribery, they were in fact serious conflicts of interest, as the public officials involved had abused their powers to seek personal gains for themselves, relatives or frien ds.
He further noted that the ICAC would launch a training package later this year to raise government officials’ alertness to conflict of interest situations through various scenarios and case studies. The training package will be distributed to all government departments and will be made available to relevant organisations in the Mainland and Macao as a useful re ference.
In addition, the Civil Service Bureau will publish a pamphlet to help entrench civil servants’ understanding of the offence of misconduct in public office.
Also addressing at the conference’s opening ceremony yesterday were Mr Wang Wei, Vice Minister of Supervision; Miss Denise Yu Chung-yee, Secretary for Civil Service, and Dr Fong Man-chong, Commissioner of Macao CCAC.
Mr Wang stressed that honesty and trustworthiness were most crucial to the overall ethical management in the civil service, and that it was paramount for civil servants to uphold these core values.
Miss Yue noted that the Hong Kong Government attached utmost importance to integrity and conduct of civil servants, adopting a three- pronged approach of prevention, education and deterrence in promoting integrity management.
Meanwhile, Dr Fung said anti-corruption messages should be included in public administration in order to promote a probity culture in society.
Over 200 guests, including directorates and senior officials from more than 50 bureaux and government departments, as well as Ethics Officers responsible for promoting ethical management in their respective departments, had attended the conference. Other participants also included officials from various provincial and municipal supervision authorities in the Mainland and the Macao CCAC.
Keynote speakers of the conference included Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, President of the Hong Kong Institute of Education; Mr Chen Yong, Director General, Performance Management, Supervision Department of the MOS and Mr Kuan Kun-hong, Deputy Comm issioner of Macao CCAC.
Other local speakers included Professor Ian Scott, Visiting Professor, Department of Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong; Mr Howard Lee Tat-chi, Executive Director, Hong Kong Monetary Authority; Mr John Lee Ka-chiu, Deputy Commi ssioner of Police; Mr David Tong Sek-por, Principal Assistant Secretary of Development Bureau; Dr Kelvin Wong Tin-yau, Chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors; Mr Mok Wah-hoi, Assistant Director of Corruption Prevention, ICAC, and Mr Raymond Ng K wok-ming, Assistant Director of Community Relations, ICAC.
Guest speakers from the Mainland and Macao included Mr Fu Kui, Director General, General Office of MOS; Mr Hong Hui-min, Deputy Director General, Supervision Department of Jiangsu Province; Ms Li Hong, Deputy Director General, Supervision Department of Hu bei Province; Mr Chow Seak-keong, Senior Investigation Officer of Macao CCAC, and Dr Xu Chang, Professor of The One Country Two Systems Research Center, Macao Polytechnic Institute.
As a continuous effort to boost civil service integrity, the ICAC would launch a comprehensive reference package and a training video for government departments, targeting in particular how civil servants should manage conflict of interest situations.
A regional conference was co-hosted by the Hong Kong ICAC, the Ministry of Supervision (MOS) and the Commission Against Corruption of Macao (CCAC) in the past two days to expound on building up a clean civil service through systemic prevention and integri ty management.
Dr Tong noted that notwithstanding the different challenges Hong Kong, the Mainland and Macao were facing amidst rapid economic growth, anti-graft agencies of the three places shared the same goal in fighting corruption. Exchanges between the three places could therefore help promote a clean culture, perfect systems and foster ethical management, he added.
Dr Tong revealed that the three places were looking into the feasibility of further cooperation under their respective legal framework, such as identifying joint research projects, organising thematic workshops and producing cross-boundary educational mat erials.
He also noted that although rules and preventive measures might deter malpractices, fostering a probity culture in the civil service was the key to managing irregularities such as conflict of interest.
Since the first ICAC prosecution of misconduct in public office in 1998, the Commission had since then brought 45 public officials to court under the Common Law offence, among them 36 were civil servants.
The Commissioner said while those malpractices appeared to have no connection with bribery, they were in fact serious conflicts of interest, as the public officials involved had abused their powers to seek personal gains for themselves, relatives or frien ds.
He further noted that the ICAC would launch a training package later this year to raise government officials’ alertness to conflict of interest situations through various scenarios and case studies. The training package will be distributed to all government departments and will be made available to relevant organisations in the Mainland and Macao as a useful re ference.
In addition, the Civil Service Bureau will publish a pamphlet to help entrench civil servants’ understanding of the offence of misconduct in public office.
Also addressing at the conference’s opening ceremony yesterday were Mr Wang Wei, Vice Minister of Supervision; Miss Denise Yu Chung-yee, Secretary for Civil Service, and Dr Fong Man-chong, Commissioner of Macao CCAC.
Mr Wang stressed that honesty and trustworthiness were most crucial to the overall ethical management in the civil service, and that it was paramount for civil servants to uphold these core values.
Miss Yue noted that the Hong Kong Government attached utmost importance to integrity and conduct of civil servants, adopting a three- pronged approach of prevention, education and deterrence in promoting integrity management.
Meanwhile, Dr Fung said anti-corruption messages should be included in public administration in order to promote a probity culture in society.
Over 200 guests, including directorates and senior officials from more than 50 bureaux and government departments, as well as Ethics Officers responsible for promoting ethical management in their respective departments, had attended the conference. Other participants also included officials from various provincial and municipal supervision authorities in the Mainland and the Macao CCAC.
Keynote speakers of the conference included Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, President of the Hong Kong Institute of Education; Mr Chen Yong, Director General, Performance Management, Supervision Department of the MOS and Mr Kuan Kun-hong, Deputy Comm issioner of Macao CCAC.
Other local speakers included Professor Ian Scott, Visiting Professor, Department of Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong; Mr Howard Lee Tat-chi, Executive Director, Hong Kong Monetary Authority; Mr John Lee Ka-chiu, Deputy Commi ssioner of Police; Mr David Tong Sek-por, Principal Assistant Secretary of Development Bureau; Dr Kelvin Wong Tin-yau, Chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors; Mr Mok Wah-hoi, Assistant Director of Corruption Prevention, ICAC, and Mr Raymond Ng K wok-ming, Assistant Director of Community Relations, ICAC.
Guest speakers from the Mainland and Macao included Mr Fu Kui, Director General, General Office of MOS; Mr Hong Hui-min, Deputy Director General, Supervision Department of Jiangsu Province; Ms Li Hong, Deputy Director General, Supervision Department of Hu bei Province; Mr Chow Seak-keong, Senior Investigation Officer of Macao CCAC, and Dr Xu Chang, Professor of The One Country Two Systems Research Center, Macao Polytechnic Institute.