XN000022-1976-04-07 — Page 21

Wednesday, April 7, 1976

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"Again, so should he be, since he is inducing the agent

or employee to deceive his principal or employer," Sir Denys said.

He disagreed with suggestions that the law under whicn

these prosecutions were initiated was in some way novel.

"This is not so. Section 9 of the Prevention of

Bribery Ordinance follows in essence, and with only minor

modifications of wording, Section 4 of the old Prevention of

Corruption Ordinance which was in force in Hong Kong for more

than 20 years before its replacement in 1970 by the present

Section 9."

He added that similar legislation had been in force in

the United Kingdom for about 70 years, and in Singapore and most

Commonwealth countries for a long time.

The law contained in this Section 9 was correct in

principle since it was intended to guard against principals and

employers being deceived and robbed by their agents and employees,

he said.

"The most important task of the ICAC remains the

attainment of a high degree of integrity in the public service

and I believe that it has made some real progress towards this

goal. But a healthy society depends also upon corrupt practices

in business being eliminated."

Referring to the Government machinery, Sir Denys said

the Government had made some progress in the bettor use of long-

term planning techniques. "Many plans have been completed or are

being prepared.

"But these plans, although comprehensive in relation to

a particular activity, have been prepared in isolation and are not

linked together in such a way as to enable an overall assessment

of our future needs to be made."

/The Government.....