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Mr President, I cannot leave section 30 without responding briefly to the suggestion made by a Member that the Ming Pao prosecution was an abuse of power,
I would like to refute that suggestion as being completely unfounded. The prosecution was properly brought, based on the view of the evidence and the law as it was then thought to be. There was no abuse of power by the ICAC; there was no abuse of the prosecution process.
The Committee Stage amendments will also contain amendments to the Bill's provisions in respect of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance, to which I now turn.
Clause 15 of the Bill relates to the power to dismiss ICAC officers under section 8 of that Ordinance. The clause is to be amended so that, before terminating an appointment, the Commissioner must consult the Advisory Committee on Corruption. The Report of the ICAC Review Committee recommended that this should be the case, and the Administration has agreed that this recommendation should be reflected in the legislation.
Clause 16 of the Bill is to be amended to reflect the fact that, since the Bill was gazetted, an authentic Chinese version of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance has been produced.
A new clause 16B is to be added, amending section 10D of the ICAC Ordinance. That section enables the ICAC to take finger-prints, photographs and measurements of persons arrested under section 10. The Bill will enable the ICAC, if it wishes, to serve a summons on a person, instead of arresting him or her. This being so, it is considered appropriate that the ICAC should have the power to take finger- prints, photographs and measurements of a person on whom a summons is served. The Committee Stage amendment so provides.
Clause 17 of the Bill amends section 13(2) of the ICAC Ordinance so that, in order to perform his corruption-prevention duties, the Commissioner may gain access to documents held by public bodies. The Bills Committee was concerned that this power might be too broad and so the Administration has agreed to limit the power so that it applies only to documents that an authorised ICAC officer reasonably considers will reveal the practices and procedures of the public body.
The Committee Stage amendments also include drafting improvements to the Bill. The amendment to clause 7, and the proposed new clauses 12A and 16A, are cases in point.
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