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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah on illegal entrants in the Legislative Council today (October 24):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of illegal entrants ("IEs") arrested and convicted in the past two years, together with a breakdown by nationality;
(b) of the total amount of medical expenditure incurred for inmates in the past three years, as well as the portion of that for IEs; and
(c) whether it has assessed the prevalence of IEs coming to Hong Kong to commit crimes in order to receive medical treatment in prison, and whether it has explored measures to curb the trend, including discussing with the countries concerned the signing of agreements on the transfer of sentenced persons?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The breakdown by nationality of the respective numbers of illegal entrants (IEs) arrested, as well as those convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in institutions of the Correctional Services Department (CSD) in 2005, 2006 and the first nine months of 2007 is as follows:
The Number of IEs Arrested
--------------------------
Category of IEs 2005 2006 2007
(January -
September)
--------------- ---- ---- -----------
Mainland China 2,191 3,173 2,199
Vietnam 373 598 448
Other regions (Note) - 273 937
----- ----- ----- -----
Total 2,564 4,044 3,584
Note: The Administration started to collect data about arrested IEs from other regions in January 2006.
The Number of IEs Convicted and Sentenced to Imprisonment in CSD's Institutions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category of IEs 2005 2006 2007
(January -
September)
--------------- ---- ---- -----------
Mainland China 1,546 1,577 1,016
Vietnam 200 312 229
Other regions 143 154 167
----- ----- ----- -----
Total 1,889 2,043 1,412
(b) According to CSD and the Department of Health (DH), the total amount of medical expenditure incurred for inmates in the past three years is as follows:
Financial Year Total Amount of Medical
Expenditure (Note)
-------------- -----------------------
2004-05 $155 million
2005-06 $150 million
2006-07 $155 million
Note: Part of the medical expenditure incurred for inmates is met by the Hospital Authority (HA). Since HA do not have a breakdown of the relevant expenditure, the above figures represent the expenditure of CSD and DH only.
Of the medical expenditure incurred for inmates, CSD and DH do not have a breakdown.
(c) Any person who breaks the law of Hong Kong shall be subject to court action. We have difficulty in ascertaining the authenticity of reports about IEs allegedly coming to Hong Kong to commit crimes in order to receive medical treatment in prison. CSD has a statutory obligation to detain persons committed to their custody according to courts' ruling and treat every inmate equally irrespective of his/her status, including the provision of medical services.
While we may not be able to assess whether the objective of IEs committing crime in Hong Kong was purely to receive medical treatment in prison, the Immigration Department and the Police have put in place various effective measures to combat illegal immigration at source in handling the problem of IEs coming to Hong Kong.
Immigration officers will guard against suspected persons from entering Hong Kong at the various control points, and step up law enforcement at black spots of criminal activities such as those for illegal employment. The Police will also take stringent and effective enforcement measures against illegal immigration. In addition to maintaining close contact and exchanging intelligence with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies in support of interception operations in the Mainland and around Hong Kong, the Police will also monitor the situation closely and co-operate with other law enforcement agencies to combat illegal immigration proactively.
Hong Kong has so far reached agreement on the transfer of sentenced persons (TSP) with 10 overseas jurisdictions and Macao. The Administration will continue to negotiate with other jurisdictions on the conclusion of TSP arrangements. However, the successful conclusion of such arrangements depends on many factors, including whether the jurisdictions concerned have enacted local legislation which allows TSPs to be made. In addition, even in cases where an agreement has already been signed with the jurisdiction concerned, pursuant to the provisions of the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Ordinance (Cap.513) and the stipulations in such agreements, a request for TSP could only be processed with the consent of the transferring party, the receiving party and the sentenced person concerned.
Ends/Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:55
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