************************************************************
Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Tommy Cheung in the Legislative Council today (March 28):
Question:
The Government has indicated that, through close collaboration between the insurance industry and other stakeholders to combat insurance fraud and reduce accidents, there will be room to lower insurance premiums if insurance claims could be reduced, thus alleviating the difficulties of small and medium enterprises in taking out insurance. However, I still received a lot of complaints from the catering sector recently that after they encountered fraudulent insurance claims for employment injury compensation and reported such cases to the Police, their cases were turned away. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective number of cases accepted for investigation in each of the past three years by the Insurance Fraud Focus Group and the Maintenance and Champerty Focus Group set up by the Commercial Crime Bureau of the Police; and among such cases, of the respective numbers of those in which the persons involved were convicted as well as those which involved the catering sector;
(b) of the circumstances under which frontline police officers will refer suspected fraudulent insurance claims received by them to the focus groups mentioned in (a); how it ensures that frontline police officers will not turn away relevant cases merely based on their subjective judgment that the cases are too minor; and
(c) how it steps up publicity efforts to help members of the sector know the channels and ways to seek assistance from the relevant focus groups of the Police when they encounter suspected fraudulent insurance claims?
Reply:
President,
(a) To effectively tackle fraud cases in relation to the insurance industry, the Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) of the Police has specifically set up two focus groups, namely "the Insurance Fraud Focus Group" and "the Maintenance and Champerty Focus Group", for taking a pro-active approach in the prevention of and combat against cases involving insurance fraud and maintenance/champerty. Figures of reported cases of fraudulent insurance claims and maintenance/champerty received by the Police and the number of prosecutions instituted in the past three years according to the record are at the Annex.
(b) The usual practice of the Police is that upon receipt of a fraud report, a frontline officer (generally a Duty Officer of the report room of a police station) will classify the case on the basis of its circumstances. If there are any criminal elements in the reported case, the frontline officer will, having regard to the district where the case has taken place and its complexity, refer it to the officers of the respective crime investigation units for conducting an investigation. Handling of minor criminal cases is not to be declined just because of the officer's subjectivity. Cases that are syndicated, complicated or involving a substantial amount of money will be handled by the relevant focus group of the CCB. The Police are determined to rigorously pursue and conduct in-depth investigation into any cases which involve criminal offences. Prosecution will be instituted if there is sufficient evidence in order to bring the criminals to justice. Professional advice will be sought from the Department of Justice when necessary.
(c) The Police have been collaborating with the departments concerned to augment public awareness of fraud cases through press, radio and television announcements. To curb fraud cases, the Police plan to work with a television station to produce a TV series in the "Police Magazine" on various types of fraud cases based on true stories, by which the public will take heed of the types and modus operandi of such cases, so that they will have greater knowledge and awareness of the serious consequences of fraud offences.
The Police call on the public to report any criminal offences and provide relevant information. Appropriate follow-up actions will be taken in the light of the circumstances of each case.
Ends/Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:02
NNNN
