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Public Order
Prevention and Education
The ICAC examines the systems and procedures of government departments and public bodies to assess and identify corruption risks, and advises on how to minimise those risks. In 2019, it completed 70 assignment reports and provided timely advice on 607 occasions.
Free corruption prevention advice is dispensed with a pledge of confidentiality to private organisations on request. During the year, the ICAC offered advice on 737 occasions.
For the Rural Representative Election and District Council Election held in 2019, the ICAC launched Support Clean Election programmes targeted at candidates, election helpers and electors.
Under an Ethics for All approach, the ICAC customises preventive education programmes to different target groups. In 2019, it conducted regular integrity training for over 29,000 government officers, and training on ethical leadership for high-ranking civil servants and other public officials.
In the private sector, the preventive education programmes reached around 46,000 employees, from front-line workers to top management. The ICAC worked with the Insurance Authority to spearhead a two-year Ethics Promotion Campaign for Insurance Industry, to enhance integrity training for insurance practitioners. It also formed a start-up connector network to disseminate integrity messages to those companies.
At the community level, the ICAC's All for Integrity programme comprised a series of publicity initiatives to mark the commission's 45th anniversary on 15 February 2019. These initiatives included the ICAC Open Day, coffee-sharing activities, 45-day online countdown activities, a new ICAC Investigators 2019 television drama series and a new advertising campaign with the slogan, 'Times change. The mission continues!
Tertiary and secondary students were engaged under the ICAC Ambassador and iTeen Leadership programmes respectively to organise integrity promotion activities for their peers.
International and Mainland Liaison
The ICAC cooperates with overseas anti-corruption agencies as well as Mainland and Macao counterparts in fighting corruption. It assists anti-corruption agencies of other jurisdictions in capacity building within the framework of the United Nations Convention against Corruption. It also promotes Hong Kong's corruption-free environment and robust anti-corruption system as the city's competitive edge to the international community.
Checks and Balances
The ICAC is independent of the civil service. To monitor its work adequately, the commission is subject to the scrutiny of four independent committees: the Advisory Committee on Corruption, Operations Review Committee, Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee and Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations. The committee chairmen host an annual press conference to account for their oversight of the ICAC.
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