PUBLIC ORDER
Independent Commission Against Corruption
131
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has been in action since February 1974. It is responsible for the detection, investigation and prevention of corruption. The Commissioner and his staff are not subject to the purview of the Public Services Commission and are therefore not part of the Civil Service. The Commissioner is formally responsible directly to the Governor.
On policy aspects of the commission's establishment, financial estimates, admin- istration and general operations, the Commissioner is advised by the Advisory Committee on Corruption, which is composed mainly of leading citizens. The com- mission has three functional departments-operations, corruption prevention and community relations-and for each there is an advisory committee with a membership based on expertise in specialised fields and representative of the community as a whole.
The establishment of the commission is 939 posts, of which 762 were filled by the end of the year. There were 486 in the operations department (establishment 533); 81 in the corruption prevention department (establishment 105); 150 in the com- munity relations department (establishment 249); and 45 in the administration branch (establishment 52).
The operations department is responsible for the investigation of alleged or suspected offences under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance and the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance. Important changes were made to the ICAC Ordinance as a result of amending legisla- tion in April. These changes widened investigating officers' powers of arrest, search and seizure; gave the commission powers of detention and release on bail of arrested people, independent of the police; and created the new offences of resisting, making false reports to, and pretending to be, an officer of the commission. With respect to the treatment of people detained at the offices of the commission, provision is made in an order approved by the Governor, which came into effect on September 1, 1976.
A senior professional officer from the Attorney General's Chambers, supported by Crown Counsel, is attached to the operations department and directs the prosecu- tion of corruption cases on behalf of the Attorney General.
During 1976 the courts dealt with 259 prosecutions concerning offences in respect of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and related offences (see Appendix 31). These resulted in 189 convictions, with 33 cases still outstanding. At the end of the year the operations department was actively investigating 293 allegations of corruption. The Operations Target Committee of private citizens and public servants advises the Commissioner on the operations department's activities. There is also a sub-com- mittee which considers all anonymous complaints made to the commission.
During the year the commission received from members of the public 2,433 reports alleging corruption (see Appendix 31). Of these, 445 were made in person either at the commission's report centre or at the commission's four sub-offices located in high-density areas. There were 320 reports by telephone and 145 by letter, and 1,294 reports were anonymous. In addition, the commission received 229 reports from government departments.