Public Order | 347
Department of Criminal Investigation of the State of Kuwait were among the overseas delegations on exchange visits to the commission.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption, which came into force in December, marked a milestone in the international campaign against corruption. The Central People's Government has ratified the convention and intends to extend its application to Hong Kong.
Cross-boundary Liaison
With closer economic and social ties between Hong Kong and the Mainland, cooperation between the ICAC and its Mainland counterparts has become increasingly important.
The ICAC and the Mainland procuratorates continued to assist each other in interviewing voluntary witnesses in connection with corruption investigations under the Mutual Case Assistance Scheme. In 2005, ICAC investigators visited the Mainland on 20 occasions while Mainland officers visited Hong Kong on 56 occasions to pursue cases with each other's assistance.
Checks and Balances
The operation of the ICAC is subject to a stringent system of checks and balances. Apart from judicial supervision, the commission's work is scrutinised by four advisory committees the Advisory Committee on Corruption, the Operations Review Committee, the Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee and the Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations.
An independent ICAC Complaints Committee, comprising members of the Legislative Council and other prominent citizens, monitors the handling of non- criminal complaints against the ICAC and its officers.
Government Laboratory
The Forensic Science Division of the Government Laboratory provides a wide variety of specialist scientific analytical services to the criminal justice system in Hong Kong. It is operationally divided into two groups and in 2005 a total of 437 crime. scenes were attended.
The Criminalistics and Quality Management Group comprises the Biochemical Sciences A & B Sections, DNA Database and Parentage Testing Section, Chemical Sciences Section, Physical Sciences Section, and Scene of Crime and Quality Management Section. The number of cases submitted to the biochemical sections for forensic DNA analysis decreased by about 14 per cent to 4 734, from 5 547 in 2004. This has allowed resources to be diverted to developing new methodology to keep pace with world trends in the field.
The DNA Database Section regularly receives outstanding DNA profile data from the Biochemical Sciences Sections, comparing them with those in the DNA database at two levels: (a) convicted offenders' DNA profiles against outstanding profiles obtained from exhibits in unsolved cases, and (b) between pairs of outstanding profiles from unsolved cases. In 2005 there were respectively 194 and 71 pairs of