24
I
Wednesday, October 17, 1973
I believe that it is quite wrong, in the special circumstances of Hong
Kong, that the police, as a force, should carry the whole responsibility
for action in this difficult and elusive field. In the past this
responsibility has carried with it for many, the implication that the
existence of corruption was the fault of the police. As we all know
it is nothing of the sort. Outside the public service it is a widespread social problem, and inside it corruption exists in several departments of which
the police is only one. Moreover I think the situation calls for an
organisation, led by men of high rank and status, which can devote its
whole time to the eradication of this evil.
A further and conclusive argument is that public confidence ia
very much involved. Clearly the public would have more confidence in a
unit that was entirely independent, and separate from any department of
the Government, including the police.
We have therefore decided, on the advice of the Executive Council,
to set up a separate Anti-Corruption Commission under a civilian Commissioner.
My intention is that the latter's independence should be established by
his position being apart from the civil service in the same way as that of
a judge or, say, the Chairman of the Public Services Commission,
He will have under him an operations unit and what I might call
a civil or preventive section. The operations unit will in due course take over the functions of the Anti-Corruption Branch of the police.
Its staff will be selected by the Commissioner for Anti-Corruption
and his Director of Operations.
/Combatting