*****************************
Following is a question by the Hon Bernard Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (December 20):
Question:
Under the notification mechanism set up by the law enforcement authorities of the Mainland and Hong Kong, the Immigration Department would pass to the relevant mainland authorities information about mainland visitors convicted of criminal offences in Hong Kong, so that the latter could closely scrutinise the future applications made by these persons for exit endorsement for Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
(a) the number of such cases passed under the notification mechanism to the relevant mainland authorities last year; and
(b) the number of visitors from the Mainland with previous convictions in Hong Kong who were convicted again, broken down by the type of offences, each year since the introduction of the Individual Visit Scheme in July 2003?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Immigration Department regularly provides the exit and entry department of the Mainland public security authorities with the particulars of those persons who were convicted of criminal offences in Hong Kong, in order to enable these authorities to step up scrutiny of these persons' subsequent applications to visit Hong Kong. In 2005, the particulars of 14,917 persons were provided to the Mainland authorities under the notification mechanism.
(b) The number of Mainland visitors with previous convictions in Hong Kong in or after 1990, who were convicted again within the period of July 2003 to 2005, whether they had left Hong Kong between the convictions, broken down by the types of offence of their last conviction, is as follows.
Type of offence of 2003 2004 2005
last conviction (since July)
------------------ ----------- ----- -----
Theft 43 78 50
Giving false 0 19 37
information to,
or misleading,
immigration officer
Serious immigration 24 39 24
offences
Breach of 9 18 18
conditions of stay
Other offences 14 40 29
Total 90 194 158
Ends/Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:00
NNNN
