In the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released in January 2022 by the international anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, Hong Kong was ranked the 12th cleanest place among 180 countries/territories surveyed and second in Asia. The report also considered Hong Kong one of the top performers in the Asia-Pacific region. This showed that the ICAC’s holistic anti-corruption strategy combining law enforcement, prevention, education and international cooperation is internationally recognised.
The CPI has been designed to gauge public perceptions on the corruption situations of their own countries and territories. Hong Kong was perceived as one of the least corrupt places in the survey. This perception was borne out by the actual experience of Hong Kong citizens, an overwhelming majority of whom had not encountered corruption.
In addition to doing its utmost in combating and preventing corruption in Hong Kong, the ICAC recognises the importance of international cooperation in the fight against corruption and has been maintaining close partnerships with anti-corruption agencies around the world. Despite the tremendous impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the ICAC has continued its capacity building initiatives and delivered more than 10 online training programmes in the last 18 months for over 600 graft fighters of overseas jurisdictions.
Following the launch of a topical module themed “Preventing Corruption in a Cost-effective Way” in 2020/2021, ICAC has recently introduced a training module on investigation skills for junior graft fighters. The three-hour session features practical skills in conducting a structured interview and a hypothetical case scenario. In January 2022, training sessions were offered to investigating officers of Sri Lanka and Morocco with encouraging feedbacks:
Since Commissioner Peh’s assumption of IAACA Presidency and Hong Kong ICAC’s take-over of IAACA Secretariat in January 2022, the Commission has been working closely with IAACA Executive Committee (ExCo) members to reach out to different anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) around the world with a view to strengthening communication and cooperation.
Under the regional coordination mechanism introduced in this term, Commissioner Peh, as President, and the four Vice Presidents of IAACA took up the role of Regional Coordinators of five regions, namely African States, Asia-Pacific States, Eastern European States, Latin American and Caribbean States, and Western European and Other States. Working with ExCo members from each regional group, they will help devise a three-year work plan with reference to the training and other service needs of ACAs in their regions.
As the Regional Coordinator of the Asia-Pacific region, Commissioner Peh convened the first regional meeting with the regional ExCo members, viz Anti-Corruption Bureau of Brunei Darussalam, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau of Singapore on 9.2.2022. The Secretariat is assisting the other Regional Coordinators to get the ball rolling in their region in a similar way.
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