—
14 -
The arrest of the suspect, or the issuing of a warrant of arrest, indicates that the investigation has reached a mature stage, and that the suspect has been deprived, or will be deprived, of his liberty. Members of the public have an overriding right to be informed of this. The making of a restraint order in respect of land already involves public registration, and so it is difficult to justify further restraints on disclosure. But Ms Loh is proposing that all restrictions on disclosure should be lifted after three events which merely form part of on-going investigations, and which are not of such significance that there is an overriding reason for the public to know about them. I do not believe that a suspect's reputation should be so exposed.
Protection of investigations
I turn now to the protection of the integrity of an investigation. Ms Loh has argued that there is no practical need for secrecy after any of the three events has made the suspect aware of the investigation.
There is a fallacy in her argument. It assumes that all suspects who know they are under investigation will tip-off any other guilty parties. This is not the case. Firstly, the suspect may be entirely innocent and may not know who the guilty parties are. He will not tip them off. Why should third parties be permitted to disclose details of the investigation and thereby alert the guilty parties? Secondly, the suspect may be guilty and may be assisting the ICAC by giving evidence against his co-conspirators. In that situation he will not want to tell the co-conspirators what he is doing. Third parties should not be permitted to do so.
In contrast to Ms Loh's proposed amendment, my amendment does afford protection to an investigation in situations where neither the Commissioner nor the suspect wants to disclose any details of it.
Conclusion
Mr Chairman, the Administration objects to Ms Loh's proposed amendment because it affords inadequate protection to the reputation of suspects and to the integrity of investigations. The amendment I have moved will relax the restrictions imposed by section 30 in several important respects, whilst still affording adequate protection to reputations and investigations. I urge members to support the Administration's amendment.
End