PUBLIC ORDER
340
Prevention
The Corruption Prevention Department examines the practices and procedures of government departments and public bodies to identify loopholes, and makes recommendations to reform work methods to reduce the potential for graft.
During the year, the department completed 105 detailed studies targeting corruption prone areas, including purchasing and tendering, contract management, staff management, law enforcement, licensing and registration systems. Priority was given to following up on Operations Department investigations to promptly plug loopholes that had been exploited and exposed. The department also provided corruption prevention advice through 269 consultation exercises to public sector organisations as new legislation, procedures or policies were being formulated.
For the private sector, the department provided free and confidential corruption prevention advice to various companies on 300 occasions. Systems and procedures were reviewed and the companies were assisted in promulgating codes of conduct for compliance by their staff.
The department continued to produce easy-to-use 'best practices' guidebooks as a cost-effective measure to help organisations enhance their corruption prevention capability. One set of the guidelines detailed the control measures necessary for outsourcing services in the public sector, while two others focused on safeguards in procurement and staff administration procedures in government-subvented social welfare organisations.
Community Education
The Community Relations Department continued to educate the public about the evils of corruption and enlist the community's support in fighting it. These work objectives were achieved through the use of mass media programmes and liaison activities run by a network of eight Regional Offices.
Maintaining an ethical culture in the Civil Service remained a top priority for the department. The two-year Civil Service Integrity Programme, jointly organised with the Civil Service Bureau, closed in March. Under this programme, the department assisted 67 government departments in reviewing and drawing up departmental guidelines and codes of conduct and mapping out tailor-made preventive education training programmes.
As part of the two-year Leadership Integrity Programme jointly organised with banking regulators and related professional bodies, the department hosted a conference for over 200 senior bank executives in March to promote greater vigilance in combating the corruption problem. A practical ethical guide for bank managers was produced and more than 100 major banks had joined a Corruption Prevention Network established for compliance officers and internal auditors to share their views on corruption and compliance issues in the industry.
The department, together with information technology-related professional bodies and major chambers of commerce, held a conference in November to promote fairness and high ethical standards within the IT trade.
The Building Management Task Force joined hands with government departments and professional bodies in implementing corruption prevention programme for owners' corporations, mutual aid committees and residents.