TNAG-0260-FCO40-296-Legislation-for-prevention-of-bribery-in-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 12

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Wednesday, November 18, 1970

The Target Committee was set up by the Commissioner of Police in

1961, consisting of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, the Director of Criminal

Investigation, the Director of the Anti-Corruption Branch, and a representative

of the Establishment Secretary.

Its terms of reference were to assess information on corruption,

and to decide which allegations should be investigated, and in what priority,

by the anti-corruption branch.

It also determined what information should be passed to other

government departments or to other parts of the police force, and was

responsible for keeping the Commissioner informed on the incidence of

corruption generally, and of any important cases of that kind.

Composition Widened

The Advisory Committee had recommended this Committee's composition

be widened so as to achieve a majority of members who did not belong to the

police force, and the Government had accepted this in principle.

He stressed that the Target Committee had been set up administratively,

and had not been mentioned either in any existing legislation or in the

Bill. But the Government recognised that its existence and composition was

a matter of legitimate public interest, and that public confidence in the

Committee would be an important factor in the successful implementation of

the Bill's provisions.

For these reasons, a number of important changes would be made with

regard to the Comittee's staff and functions.

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