TNAG-0990-FCO40-1209-Allegations-of-bribery-and-corruption-in-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 187

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rights of individuals must be protected except in the most extreme emergency situation. The historians will probably conclude that the Government was right to tackle the problem of corruption without taking what amount to emergency powers.

23.

In that case, where do we go from here? I think the only conclusion is that we need to make prevention much more effective than the cure which has not been getting the

results we want. The4 role of the Corruption Prevention Department of the ICAC in this field is wellknown and there is no doubt that its activities will help departments to eliminate opportunities for corruption. But the disciplinary process also has a role to play. Prodded by the ICAC and others, CSB has been probing into the situation in departments and, the more we probe, the clearer it becomes that discipline in many departments is lax,

that many junior civil servants are getting away with murder and that this can only create a breeding ground for corruption on a small scale which is difficult to detect and prove and provides the basis for the re-emergence of large scale syndicated corruption which we now seem to have under control.

24.

As an example of laxity, let me just mention the case of four junior officers in one department who were found to be playing mahjong in working hours. When they realised that the proceedings against them might result in their dismissal, their immediate reaction was to ask why they were being victimised when all other officers at their level in that Department had been doing the same thing for years.

25.

I know that the ICAC has reached similar conclusions

and is developing ideas for dealing with the problem. I hope to be privy to their thoughts before too long but will take this opportunity to mention a few of the ideas that have occured to me in order to stimulate discussion and to prevent the

ICAC from claiming later that I have stolen their ideas!

26.

For a start, we need to help departments to institute procedures to detect misconduct of all kinds and we need to help them to take action against offenders. With the establishment of a small special unit in CSB we have started

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