PUBLIC ORDER
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Independent Commission Against Corruption
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) fights corruption on three fronts: investigation, prevention and education.
International inter-agency co-operation is essential if effective action is to be taken against corruption which crosses all forms of borders and boundaries. This was evidenced during the year when officers from England, the United States, Australia, China, Egypt, Mexico, Swaziland and Tanzania visited the commission. In November, the Commissioner and heads of the ICAC's three departments delivered key speeches at the Fourth Inter- national Anti-Corruption Conference which was held in Sydney.
The ICAC is independent of the Civil Service and the commissioner is directly responsible to the Governor. But there are certain ways in which the commission is 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. Each of the three functional departments of the commission – Operations, 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 are handled by the ICAC Complaints Committee comprising five members of the Executive and Legislative Councils and a law officer. A total of 16 such complaints received during the year were thoroughly investigated.
Operations
The Operations Department is the investigative arm of the commission. It receives and investigates reports of suspected offences under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, the ICAC Ordinance and the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance.
Of the 2 423 corruption reports received by the department in 1989, 866 were made by members of the public who personally visited the commission's offices, 931 by telephone, 435 by letter and 191 from government departments. While a number of reports were made anonymously, 68 per cent of those making reports identified themselves.
Investigations into these reports resulted in 187 convictions and 139 people being cautioned. At the end of the year 114 cases were awaiting trial and 877 investigations were still in progress.
Separate elections were held in Hong Kong for the Legislative, Urban and Regional Councils, and the District Boards during the 12-month period ending in March 1989. These elections generated 126 complaints to the ICAC and resulted in 16 people, including five District Board members, being prosecuted. Another 63 people were cautioned for minor infringements of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance. As a result of the experience gained, the commission submitted to the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs a report calling for legal and procedural amendments before the next round of elections in 1991.
Five task force teams continued their investigations into suspected complex commercial corruption cases. The cases concerned alleged criminality involving many hundreds of millions of dollars, requiring worldwide enquiries and extradition proceedings.
Apart from reporting their suspicions and fears of corruption, the public has come to regard the Operations Department as a conduit for general grievances and as a source of assistance. In 1989, the department received 996 reports which were not corruption- related and of these 694 were referred to other government departments for action.
To avoid protracted legal arguments over the admissibility of suspects' statements, the department embarked on a year-long experiment of videotaping interviews of suspects with