- 13 -
He said another change proposed was that convictions should be "once spent, always spent".
"This means that where a convicted person is not reconvicted in the three-year rehabilitation period, then his first conviction would become spent and would not revive, even if he were convicted of another offence at a later date.
"Despite this, the second offence should not be allowed to be spent," the spokesman said.
Moreover, he pointed out that arrangements would be made to enable the spent conviction of a reconvicted person to be brought to the attention of the court for sentencing purposes to avoid a repeated offender being treated as a first time offender.
The spokesman said some people and proceedings were proposed to be excluded from the scheme. These include:
proceedings under the Banking Ordinance relating to an individual's suitability to become a controller, chief executive or director of an authorised institution;
proceedings under the Insurance Companies Ordinance relating to an individual's suitability to become a director or controller of an authorised insurer;
proceedings relating to the 'determination of an application as a foster parent;
and
* staff of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Securities and Futures Commission, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.
"These exceptions are proposed because they involve positions where the public expect a high standard of probity and the interests of children who will be placed under foster care service," the spokesman explained.
The bill will be gazetted on Friday (November 10) and is expected to be introduced into the Legislative Council on November 22.
End/Wednesday, November 8, 1995