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Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session given by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph W P Wong, today (January 24) on civil service post-retirement employment.

Reporter: Mr Wong, ...could you elaborate a little bit how the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) could be involved? Another question is about some initial possible initiatives over your review?

Secretary: Our review will focus on three main areas. The first is whether there is a case to extend the sanitisation period for the most senior civil servants from the present six months to a year. The second area is whether we should continue to allow senior civil servants to be employed during their final leave. The third area is whether or not we should make the whole system more transparent by publishing various information relating to the post-retirement employment of senior civil servants.

Once we have completed the review, we intend to seek the advice of our legal advisers to ensure that it is compatible with the present legislation governing the management of the civil service and that is compatible with the basic fundamental right of retired civil servants seeking employment.

We will also pass the proposals to the ICAC for their Corruption Prevention Department to see whether or not from their corruption prevention angle there are areas which could be further improved.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript).

Ends/Monday, January 24, 2005

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