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Wednesday, November 18, 1970
He called the decision to leave enactment of the Bill's provisions
in the hands of the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Royal Hong Kong Police
Force as "the most controversial point at issue," and there was no doubt
a "very large section" of the community held the view it should not be.
His unofficial colleagues were of the opinion that ideally there
should be a separate and independent body to deal with anti-corruption.
He said the Attorney General's explanation that a new organisation
would "show a very serious lack of confidence both in the Anti-Corruption
Branch and in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force as a whole" was not a point
that carried much weight with the man in the street.
Effective Action
Such a person might well feel that the Government should not refrain
from taking effective action against corruption on the ground that this
would affect police morale. In this connection, he recalled that immigration,
hawker control, and the licensing and control of motor vehicles used to be
in police hands not long ago, but were now in the charge of entirely separate
departments.
More to the point, Mr. Kan said, was the need to bear in mind that
corruption was inextricably interwoven with crime detection - a specialist
task requiring specialist staff. A new anti-corruption organisation could
not hope to be effective if it were manned by people with no expert knowledge
in dealing with crime, but by ordinary personnel.
At the same time, there would be very limited significance in the
creation of a new organisation if it were run by more or less the same personnel
now operating the Anti-Corruption Branch. A person's efficiency and honesty
did not change merely because the organisation for which he worked was given
a different title.
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