NEWS
GEMINI
NEWS
SERVICE
GN 1314
Approx 1030 words
DRIVE AGAINST CORRUPTION IN HONGKONG GETS UNDER WAY
The new drive against graft in Kongkong has now got under way with the appointment of an Independent Commission Against Corruption. The senior British civil servant heading the Commission will have direct access to the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, and his department will be independent of the police, a number of whose officers came under investigation last year.
Gemini News Service's Hongkong corres- pondent reports on the moves to clean up life in the colony.
by S.M. ALI Hongkong
Whatever else happens in Hongkong during 1974, the government's promised drive against corruption, launched at last, seems unlikely to be surpassed in interest by any other development.
This is one subject every one here is now talking about and will be talking about for months to come.
For the average man in this Far East British crown colony, the energy crisis, the thaw in the Middle East or the general election in Britain remain relatively remote issues compared to this much-publicised war on graft.
There has been a campaign against corruption for some years. But it gained considerable momentum last year when formal investigations were started against a number of police officers in the colony and a handful of them were found guilty and dismissed. One senior-ranking British superintendent was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment on a charge of "living beyond his means". Another left the colony during an investigation into his affairs.
But the campaign turned into a declared war on corruption not only within the administration but also in the private sector when the government formally launched a new Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and gave it wide- ranging powers to deal with every form of graft in Hongkong.
The Executive Council, a government-nominated body that serves as the highest policy-making machinery in Hongkong, recently rushed through the necessary legis Tation to set up the new Commission.
Jack Cater, the ICAC Commissioner, has no illusions about the seriousness of his assignment.
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