ENG-2006 — Page 395

Public Order | 327

regime, the Government will make every effort to ensure full compliance with the UNCAC. In October 2006, the ICAC Commissioner led a delegation to the First Annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Anti- Corruption Authorities held in Beijing to share Hong Kong's anti-corruption experiences with other countries.

Cross-boundary Liaison

The ICAC and the Mainland procuratorate authorities continued to assist each. other in interviewing voluntary witnesses in connection with corruption investigations carried out under the Mutual Case Assistance Scheme established in 1988. In 2006, ICAC officers visited the Mainland on 25 times, while Mainland officers visited Hong Kong on 37 times to seek each other's assistance.

Exchanges with the Mainland anti-corruption authorities continued to increase during the year. The commission also held 203 talks for 6 440 visiting Mainland officials to introduce them to Hong Kong's anti-corruption strategies and experiences.

Checks and Balances

The operation of the ICAC is subject to a stringent system of checks and balances. Apart from judicial supervision, the commission's work is scrutinised by four independent advisory committees the Advisory Committee on Corruption, the Operations Review Committee, the Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee and the Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations.

An independent ICAC Complaints Committee, made up of members of the Legislative Council and prominent citizens, monitors the handling of non-criminal complaints against the ICAC and its officers.

Government Laboratory

The Government Laboratory's Forensic Science Division (FSD) provides the criminal justice system in Hong Kong with a wide range of specialist scientific analytical services. The FSD is divided into two groups. In 2006, it examined a total of 451 crime scenes.

The Criminalistics and Quality Management Group comprises seven sections covering six major areas of work. The two Biochemical Sciences Sections (BSS) handle forensic DNA analysis. The number of DNA cases submitted to the BSS to analyse decreased by about 12 per cent to 4 161 from 4 734 in 2005. This has allowed resources to be diverted to developing new methodologies in line with world trends. Besides, the BSS receives regularly DNA data on convicted offenders, suspects and volunteers from the DNA Database Section, and compare them with outstanding DNA profiles obtained from unsolved cases. Comparisons are also conducted among outstanding DNA profiles from different unresolved cases to look for possible connections. In 2006 there were 158 and 52 pairs of matches in the two types of comparison, providing important investigative leads for the Police to follow up. The Parentage Testing Section deals with cases pertaining to right of abode applications. There were 2 726 cases submitted mainly by the Immigration Department in 2005 but the figure decreased slightly to 2 672 this year. The average mismatched