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PUBLIC ORDER
subject to external advice and monitoring. The Advisory Committee on Corruption, whose members include leading citizens and senior government officials, provides guidance on policy matters affecting the commission's activities and organisation. Each of the three functional departments of the commission, responsible for investigation, corruption prevention and community relations, is also guided by an advisory body with members drawn from various sectors of the community. Complaints against the commission and its staff are handled by a complaints committee, which comprises five members of the Executive and Legislative Councils and a law officer. A total of 13 such complaints received during the year were thoroughly investigated.
The ICAC conducted its seventh mass survey on attitudes and perceptions of the general public towards corruption and towards the commission. Over 1 000 respondents, sampled from a wide spectrum of the Hong Kong public, were interviewed. The report on the findings of the survey was completed by the end of the year.
Compared with findings of past surveys, the 1988 findings on respondents' perception of corruption in government supported the trend that the government is continuing to be progressively less corrupt. Corruption in business was considered to be more widespread than in government, with over half of the respondents perceiving the use of illegal commissions as prevalent. Nearly all respondents knew of the commission and about 90 per cent of them thought its performance was good.
Operations
The Operations Department investigates all reports of suspected offences under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, the ICAC Ordinance and the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance.
During the year, the department received 2 253 reports of corruption. Of these 750 were by members of the public in person, 814 by telephone and 480 by letter, and 209 were from government departments. Of all the reports, 66 per cent were made by persons prepared to identify themselves.
The District Board elections held in March generated 81 complaints under the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance.
Large-scale commercial fraud facilitated by corruption demanded the deployment of large teams of investigators, many of whom were required to travel extensively to investigate and to bring to justice offenders who had left Hong Kong. To facilitate such investigations, the commission has maintained extensive liaison and co-operation with law enforcement agencies elsewhere.
A total of 404 persons were prosecuted for corruption-related offences and 306 prosecutions were completed with 234 convictions; 155 persons were officially cautioned. At the end of the year 97 cases were awaiting trial and 582 investigations were in progress.
On the advice of the Operations Review Committee, reports concerning 293 serving or former government servants were referred to the heads of departments and to the Secretary for the Civil Service for consideration of disciplinary or administrative action.
Corruption Prevention
The Corruption Prevention Department reviews procedures which could be conducive to corruption in government departments and in public bodies, and recommends changes as it sees necessary. Free advice is also available to private organisations or individuals on request.