ENG-2002 — Page 395

PUBLIC ORDER

commodities trades. A home page on the Internet provides comprehensive and updated departmental information to the public.

Independent Commission Against Corruption

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is a dedicated anti- corruption agency independent of the Civil Service. Its Commissioner is directly accountable to the Chief Executive of the HKSAR.

During the year, the ICAC continued to bring corruption effectively into check through its three-pronged strategy of investigation, prevention and community education. Besides strict law enforcement, the commission endeavours to fortify a culture of probity and provides tailor-made corruption prevention advice to both the public and private sectors.

During the year, the commission initiated anti-corruption programmes for various quarters of the community, including the financial, insurance sectors and the Civil Service, as part of its efforts to maintain a clean society and a level playing field for doing business in Hong Kong.

Corruption Situation

In 2002, the ICAC received 4 371 corruption reports (excluding election-related complaints), a slight decline of 2 per cent over the previous year. Of these, 1 638 were made against government departments, up from 1 587 in 2001. There were 2 403 and 330 reports concerning the private sector and public bodies respectively, compared with 2 542 and 347 in 2001. Pursuable reports accounted for 74 per cent of the total.

Investigation

In 2002, the Operations Department the ICAC's investigative arm — continued to pursue a proactive strategy in unearthing corruption cases. It maintained close ties with the disciplined services through Operational Liaison Groups. Liaison channels were also in place with other government departments, regulatory bodies and key industries for joint actions against corruption.

The level of corruption reports remained high partly due to the prolonged economic downturn. Nonetheless, the upward trend had appeared to level off. The department continued to be unremitting in its efforts to make corruption a high-risk crime.

Major cases detected during the year ranged from letter of credit fraud, investment and bank frauds, contract and tendering malpractice, fraudulent insurance claims and money laundering to misconduct in public office and corruption allegations involving civil servants.

During the year, 604 persons were prosecuted and 116 cautioned in accordance with advice given by the Department of Justice. The Operations Department's case-load stood at 1 473 at year-end, and a growing number of these cases featured a more sophisticated and complex modus operandi.

Prevention

The Corruption Prevention Department examines the practices and procedures of government departments and public bodies to identify corruption loopholes, and recommends measures to reduce the opportunities for malpractice.

327