CONFIDENTIAL
BACKGROUND NOTE
CORRUPTION IN HONG KONG
1. Until 1974, corruption was a tacitly accepted fact of life in Hong Kong. However, the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1974 marked the beginning of a determined attempt to reduce the problem to acceptable dimensions. ICAC's efforts were directed at corruption in all branches of the Public Service, but nearly half of its investigations were connected with the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. As a result, some police officers felt that they were being persecuted unfairly and widespread resent- ment developed in the Force. This came to a head in the near mutiny of last November, which led to the announcement of a partial amnesty covering corruption offences committed before 1 January 1977. The only cases excluded from this amnesty were those already under investigation on 5 November 1977, those in which the suspects were outside the territory of Hong Kong and any which the Governor
considered particularly "heinous".
2. After the amnesty a new section of the ICAC Ordinance (18A) was introduced, prohibiting the ICAC from investigating corruption offences committed before 1 January 1977, except those covered by
the exclusions referred to above.
3.
Under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, all prosecutions for
corruption offences need the consent of the Attorney-General. There is, of course, nothing to prevent any individual from seeking to institute such prosecutions irrespective of the date when the alleged offences took place, though it must be unlikely that the Attorney-General would give his consent in cases covered by the amesty. The Attorney-General is also responsible for instituting prosecutions on evidence prepared by ICAC. The Governor has no power to direct the Attorney-General on the decisions he takes in
these cases.
CONFIDENTIAL
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