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The existing subsection (2) of section 30 provides that the Commissioner, ICAC, may disclose the identity of a suspect if any of five specified events occur. Two of those events are the issue of an arrest warrant and the making of a restraint order. As I have just explained, the occurrence of either of those two events will, under my proposed amendment, cause all restrictions on disclosure to be lifted.
That leaves three further events in the existing subsection (2), namely where the person subject to the investigation fails to comply with a notice under section 14(1)(a) or (b) requiring him to give details of his assets; where his residence has been searched under a warrant issued under section 17; and where he has been required to surrender a travel document under section 17A.
The amendment that I am moving will have the effect that, if any of those three events occur, any details of the investigation may be disclosed by the Commissioner, or by the subject person, or by any other person with the consent of the Commissioner or the subject person.
This is a considerable relaxation of the section, but it ensures that third parties will not be able to disclose details of an investigation after one of the specified events has occurred, unless the Commissioner or the suspect consents to this. The Administration considers that, even though one of those events has occurred, there are still good reasons for imposing such restrictions on disclosures. In particular, there is still a need to protect the reputation of the subject person.
As I have said, in the three situations described, third parties should not be permitted to make disclosures without the consent of the subject person or of the Commissioner. However, my amendment provides that, where the Commissioner or the subject person has consented to a disclosure being made by a particular person to the public or a section of the public, he is to be treated as having consented to such a disclosure by any other person. This provision will be of particular assistance to the media since, if the subject person is content for details of the investigation to be made public, it will not be necessary for each newspaper or broadcaster to obtain the consent of that person before it can run the story.
The amendment I am moving will also permit disclosures to be made by any person if, but only to the extent that, the disclosure reveals any unlawful activity, abuse of power, serious neglect of duty, or other serious misconduct by the ICAC; or a serious threat to public order or to the security of Hong Kong or to the health or safety of the public.
The combined effect of these amendments will relax the restrictions imposed by section 30 in significant respects.
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