ENG-1978 — Page 184

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PUBLIC ORDER

opera-

other aspect of its work. The three functional branches of the commission tions, corruption prevention and community relations each have an advisory committee made up of members drawn from various sectors of the community.

In December, 1977, an ICAC Complaints Committee was set up to monitor com- plaints against the commission and to advise the Commissioner on any further action that is considered necessary. The committee is made up of seven unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils and a law officer, with the administrative secretary of the UMELCO Office and an ICAC official serving as joint secretaries. During 1978, the committee met five times and considered 32 investigations into com- plaints made against the commission.

The establishment of the commission is 1,121 posts, of which 633 are in operations, 104 in corruption prevention, 306 in community relations and 78 in administration. (At the end of the year, 957 posts were filled with 580 in operations, 80 in corruption prevention, 235 in community relations and 62 in administration.)

Operations

The Operations Department is responsible for the investigation of alleged or suspected offences under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance and the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance.

The Operations Review Committee, which consists of private citizens and senior public servants, receives information from the Commissioner on all complaints of corruption made to the commission and on the progress made into their investigation, and it advises the Commissioner which complaints should no longer be pursued.

The partial amnesty for corruption offences committed before January 1, 1977, which was announced by the Governor in November, 1977, and the success of the commission's efforts since 1974 in combating corruption have inevitably led to a reduction in the incidence of complaints received from the public. In 1978, 1,234 reports were received: 400 (32 per cent) of these were made by personal visits to the main report centre or to the commission's local offices, 406 by telephone and 286 by letter.

The Operations Department is now concentrating its resources on the present and on the future to ensure that there will be no return to the days when corruption was all too prevalent. The department is developing its own intelligence as a basis for new investigations, concentrating on the 'satisfied customer' type of corruption. This form of corruption is extremely difficult to detect and prosecute. However it is hoped that, with effort and determination, it will be as effectively dealt with as the syndicated type of corruption which presented such a grave problem in the past.

A senior officer from the Attorney General's chambers, supported by Crown Counsel, is attached to the Operations Department and directs the prosecution of corruption cases on behalf of the Attorney General. During the year, 181 prosecutions were made under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and for related offences.

As the Operations Department is given powers of detention and release on bail of arrested persons independent of the police, there is a purpose-built detention centre in its new headquarters at Murray Road Car Park Building in Central District, to where it moved in February, 1978.