Mr Benjamin Tang Kwok-bun, Chairman of the Operations Review Committee, assured that the corruption situation in Hong Kong continued to remain well under control. The number of corruption complaints received by the ICAC in 2018 recorded a drop of 6%, while public support stayed strong as 73% of complainants identified themselves when reporting corruption.
Mr Tang noted that the workload of ICAC investigators remained heavy, mainly due to the increasingly sophisticated and complex practices of corruption and related crimes which made investigations more difficult and time-consuming.
In 2018, the number of corruption complaints concerning government departments recorded a drop of 8% from 771 to 706. “Despite isolated prosecutions involving public servants, the civil service continues to stay clean and honest,” Mr Tang said.
The number of corruption complaints relating to the private sector slightly dropped by 6% from 1,885 to 1,776. A large portion of these concerned the building management sector. “The ORC supports the Operations Department’s two-pronged strategy consisting of enforcement and early intervention actions to raise flat owners’ alertness to corruption risks,” Mr Tang said.
He also stressed that the ICAC would spare no effort to eradicate corruption and prevent labour exploitation as complaints involving illegal “introduction fees” in the construction industry had become more significant.
“The ORC does not have the slightest doubt that the Operations Department will continue to investigate all reports of corruption vigilantly in accordance with the law, irrespective of the background, status and position of the persons involved,” Mr Tang added.
At the press conference, Mr Tang acknowledged public concern about the ICAC investigation into allegations of corruption and misconduct in public office against former Chief Executive (CE) Mr Leung Chun-ying.
“According to established procedures, the ICAC had kept the ORC abreast of the progress of the case at each meeting since the investigation commenced in October 2014,” Mr Tang said.
Last month, the ICAC submitted an investigation report to the ORC with legal advice from the Department of Justice. “After careful deliberation and detailed discussion, the ORC endorsed that no further investigative action should be taken by the ICAC,” Mr Tang said.
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