Section 33 of the principal Ordinance disqualifies any person who has been convicted of an offence under Part II of the Ordinance (the corruption offences) from being a member of the Executive, Legislative or Urban Councils or any other public body for 7 years from the date of his conviction. The reference to "other public body" includes the public bodies specified in the Schedule to the principal Ordinance.
35
It had been thought that the disqualification would prevent a convicted person from being employed by a scheduled public body. But legal advice now makes clear that this is not so. Moreover it now appears that the words "member of .... a public body" mean, in the case of those scheduled public bodies that are companies having a share capital, a person owning shares in such public bodies. It was never intended that section 33 should prevent a convicted person from being a share-holder in a public body and, consequently, clause 14 amends section 33 by excluding from the disqualification membership of a scheduled public body.
36
Concurrently with the amendment, it is proposed to add a new section which will empower the Courts to prohibit the employment of convicted persons either in a particular business or a class of business where they consider it to be in the public interest to do so.
This power will restore what was thought to have been the intention in regard to public bodies and will also extend it to cover the private sector. This will permit this sanction to be used in respect of managerial positions in subvented bodies which for various reasons (see paragraphs 39-42 below) are not included in the schedule of public bodies.
37
Clause 15 adds a new section 33A to the principal Ordinance. This provides that where a person has been convicted of an offence under Part II a court may, if it considers it to be in the public interest so to do, prohibit that person from taking or continuing employment with such employer or class of employer as it may determine. An order will be valid for such period as the court thinks fit but cannot exceed 7 years. The prohibition will not apply to all employment but only to employment as a director, partner or manager or some other managerial position. A contravention of an order will be an offence punishable with a fine of up to $50,000 and to imprisonment for up to 12 months. During the life of an orderjea person affected by it may apply to the court to have it varied or cancelled. Upon the hearing of an application the court will consider all the circumstances, including any change in the applicant's circumstances. The offence created by new section 33A will be triable summarily and would, therefore, be subject to the 6 months limitation period described in paragraph 32. However, having regard to the nature
CONFIDENTIAL #