ENG-1991 — Page 312

PUBLIC ORDER

The ICAC received a total of 2 411 reports of corruption allegations in 1991, a marginal increase of 0.4 per cent over 1990. Of these reports, 224 were in respect of allegations of offences relevant to the elections to the district boards, municipal councils and the Legislative Council. There were no elections in 1990.

Över the past five years the total number of corruption reports has remained fairly steady within a range of 2 250 to 2 420 each year.

Reports concerning the private sector were pursuing an upward trend until 1990 when the trend reversed to register a nine per cent decrease over the previous year. In 1991, there were 1 369 reports in this area. Deducting the reports arising from the elections, the number was 1 145, representing a further decline of four per cent from 1 205 reports in 1990.

Reports against civil servants had also been on the decline until 1990 when they increased by about nine per cent over the previous year. In 1991, there were 978 reports made against civil servants, a decrease of 13 per cent from 1 126 in 1990.

For the franchised utilities and other public bodies, there were 64 reports in 1991, compared with 69 in 1990.

Apart from reporting suspicions and fears of corruption, some members of the public tend to regard the ICAC as a conduit for general grievances against various government departments. In 1991, the ICAC received 1069 non-corruption complaints. The commission referred 838 of these to the government departments concerned.

Operations

The Operations Department enforces three sets of laws: the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and the ICAC Ordinance which deal with corruption offences in general, and the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance which prohibits election malpractices.

The department operates a report centre, together with a hotline, round the clock to receive complaints from the public. Complainants can also choose to give their complaints to any of the eight ICAC regional offices located throughout the territory.

Of the 2 411 corruption reports in 1991, 2018 were received from members of the public and the rest mainly from government departments and the ICAC's own sources. Of significance is the fact that most members of the public were willing to identify themselves: 67 per cent in 1991 as compared to 60 per cent in 1981 and 35 per cent in 1974 when the ICAC was established. The quality of reports was high: 1 759 reports contained sufficient information for an investigation to be pursued. As a result, the Operations Department's case-load rose to its highest level since 1974. These indications show that the ICAC has been enjoying the strong and continuing support of the public in its fight against corruption.

The department's investigations resulted in 314 persons being prosecuted during the year; 110 were convicted while 86 were cautioned for minor offences. At the end of the year 174 cases were awaiting trial and 930 investigations were still in progress.

The department received 231 complaints in connection with the elections to the Legislative Council, municipal councils and district boards in 1991. Many of the complaints were of a minor nature due to ignorance of the law or carelessness in handling campaign publicity materials. On the advice of the Attorney General, 55 persons were verbally warned for such minor offences, but four cases were serious enough to be prosecuted in court. By the end of the year, three persons had been convicted.

In mid-1991, the Operations Department released a report on an experiment in the use of video and audio recordings for interviews with suspects. The experiment covered 657

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