XN000022-1980-10-01 — Page 18

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1980

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ICAC MUST MAINTAIN PRESSURE

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THE ICAC MUST MAINTAIN UNRELENTING PRESSURE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION, THE GOVERNOR, SIR MURRAY MACLEHOSE, SAID TODAY (WEDNESDAY).

+GREAT HAS BEEN THE IMPROVEMENT, WE STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO BEFORE WE CAN BE SATISFIED THAT THERE WILL BE NO RELAPSE,+ SIR MURRAY SAID IN HIS OPENING ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

HE NOTED THAT COMPLAINTS OF CORRUPTION IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR NOW ACCOUNTED FOR OVER 30 PER CENT OF THE TOTAL, WHILE THE NUMBER OF ALLEGATIONS ABOUT THE POLICE HAD DROPPED BELOW 30 PER CENT AS AGAINST 40 PER CENT, WHICH HAD BEEN THE AVERAGE FOR SOME YEARS.

UP TO AUGUST 31 THIS YEAR, THE COMMISSION HAD RECEIVED ABOUT 1 080 COMPLAINTS OF CORRUPTION COMPARED WITH ABOUT 1 100 FOR THE SAME PERIOD IN 1979.

DESPITE THE FACT THAT FEWER OF THIS YEAR'S COMPLAINTS PROVIDED GROUNDS FOR INVESTIGATION, 220 PEOPLE HAD BEEN TAKEN TO COURT COMPARED WITH 180 DURING THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR THERE HAD BEEN CERTAINLY NO RELAXATION IN THE EFFORTS OF THE OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT TO BRING OFFENDERS TO JUSTICE, HE SAID.

SIR MURRAY NOTED THAT AN INCREASING NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS WERE MAKING CLEAR THEIR OWN STAND AGAINST CORRUPTION IN RESPONSE TO PERSISTENT EFFORTS OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE COMMISSION.

+ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOUR WHICH WERE ONCE REGARDED AS UNCHANGEABLE ARE GIVING WAY TO NEW VALUES, HE SAID.

+ BUT LET US HAVE NO ILLUSIONS- THERE IS STILL TOO MUCH CORRUPTION AND THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL PREPARED TO TOLERATE ITS EXISTENCE, HE ADDED.

SIR MURRAY ALSO PRAISED THE RETIRING COMMISSIONER, SIR DONALD LUDDINGTON, FOR HIS LEADERSHIP OF THE ICAC AND SAID IN THIS HE HAD ADDED YET ANOTHER AND VERY SUCCESSFUL CHAPTER TO HIS LONG RECORD OF WISE AND ABLE PUBLIC SERVICE.

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