ENG-1986 — Page 254

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PUBLIC ORDER

The year also saw the ICAC conduct its sixth mass survey on attitudes towards the commission and public knowledge about its work. Field work on the survey lasted six weeks, involving over 1 000 sample respondents. Computation and compilation of data collected from the survey was completed by the end of the year.

The ICAC is independent of the Civil Service and the commissioner is directly responsible to the Governor. An advisory Committee on Corruption, consisting of leading citizens and senior government officials, provides guidance for the commission on policy matters concerning staffing, financial estimates, administration and other aspects of its work. Each of the three functional departments of the commission, namely the Operations, Corruption Prevention and Community Relations departments, is also guided by an advisory body with members drawn from various sectors of the community and public service. All complaints against the commission and its staff are handled by an ICAC Complaints Committee, which comprises five Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils and a law officer. A total of 20 such complaints received during the year were thoroughly investigated.

Operations

The Operations Department investigates all reports related to allegations or suspected offences under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, the ICAC Ordinance and the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance.

The department received 2 547 corruption complaints. Of these, 852 were made by members of the public in person, 1044 by telephone and 477 by letter, and 201 were received from government departments. Some 65 per cent of these complaints were made by persons prepared to identify themselves.

The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance was amended in 1985 to include within its provisions elections to both the Legislative and Regional Councils, in addition to the Urban Council and district boards. Following these amendments, 29 complaints were received by the ICAC in connection with the Regional and Urban Council Elections held on March 6, 1986. Complaints related to the Regional Council Election totalled 14 while 15 related to the Urban Council Election. As more elections are held in Hong Kong, this may well become a new area of concern to the commission.

Another area of concern has been the appearance of large scale fraud facilitated by corruption. Special task forces were established to investigate allegations of this type of crime, which often entail complex and time-consuming probes. New skills, including a basic knowledge of accounting, banking and the use of computers, have had to be developed.

As a result of investigations carried out by the department, 251 persons were prosecuted for corruption or related offences and 169 prosecutions were completed with 122 convic- tions. The conviction rate of completed cases stood at 74 per cent. At the end of the year, 82 cases were pending trial and 420 investigations were in progress.

On the advice of the Operations Review Committee, reports concerning 320 serving or former government officers were referred to the heads of departments and the Civil Service Branch for consideration of disciplinary or administrative action.

Corruption Prevention

The Corruption Prevention Department reviews and recommends changes to procedures which could be conducive to corruption in government departments and public bodies. Advice is also available to private organisations or individuals on request.