Since early this year, many businesses have to incorporate new digital strategies and tools into their daily operations in order to mitigate the paralysing effects of COVID-19.
The Hong Kong ICAC is no exception. With the use of digital technologies, the Commission has strived to continue its anti-corruption initiatives on various online platforms in light of the stringent social distancing measures implemented by the government.
To continue to engage the community during the pandemic, instead of a face-to-face approach, the Community Relations Department (CRD) of the ICAC reached out to different industries via online talks, virtual seminars and trainings, all resulting in positive feedbacks.
From April to early September, CRD officers conducted over 100 online integrity talks and trainings, in particular for medical professionals, accounting experts, as well as staff members of banks, securities companies, hospitals, telecommunications corporations, local NGOs and public bodies.
Participants, from front-line staff to managerial supervisors, appreciated the fruitful discussions on issues pertaining to ethical dilemmas as well as opportunities to share their personal experience in handling conflict of interest situations.
The ICAC’s Corruption Prevention Advisory Service (CPAS) has maintained its services and continued to offer free, confidential and tailor-made corruption prevention advice to private sector companies during the pandemic. Moreover, in the first seven months of this year, the average monthly visits to the CPAS web portal registered a surge of over 70% compared with last year, reaching more than 18,000 visits each month.
The CPAS website, established since early 2017 by the Corruption Prevention Department, provides corruption prevention reference materials, guidelines and sample codes of conduct for private companies, business organisations and individuals.
Prevention is always smarter than cure. The ICAC is glad to see that private companies have become even more vigilant during the pandemic and strived to enhance their graft prevention capacity.
Internationally, the ICAC has maintained connections and communications with overseas anti-graft counterparts despite restrictions under the pandemic.
In July, ICAC officers, together with anti-graft and legal experts from the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, participated in a webinar organised by the World Justice Project to exchange views on corruption risks and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as procurement of health care products, medical equipment and release of financial subsidies.
In fact, the ICAC’s best practice checklist and training package on corruption prevention in procurement have always been a “big hit” at international and regional seminars and workshops. Locally, they are widely adopted by various trades and industries.
In late July, at the invitation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), ICAC officers, along with international experts, discussed in a webinar the corresponding measures to safeguard integrity and accountability when mapping out crisis responses and recovery efforts.
On the law enforcement front, officers of the ICAC’s Operations Department have been invited by the Corruption Eradication Commission of Indonesia (KPK) to share their investigation practices and experience in forensic accounting and information processing.
To learn more about ICAC’s corruption prevention and education services for the business sector, you may visit:
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