************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Paul Tse and a written reply by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (May 8):
Question:
It has been reported that a retired public officer is suspected of having taken advantage of his positions for personal gains and committed misconduct during his tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and during his even earlier tenure as the Commissioner of Customs and Excise (CCE). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of ICAC's policies and measures currently in place which are sufficient to convince the public that ICAC will, upon receipt of any complaint about that former ICAC Commissioner, conduct an investigation in a just and impartial manner;
(b) whether the authorities have reviewed if the existing appointment mechanism for ICAC Commissioner (i.e. the Commissioner shall be appointed by the Central People's Government on nomination and report by the Chief Executive (CE) under the Basic Law and the mechanism of ICAC Commissioner being directly accountable to CE are proper and have sufficient credibility; if they have, of the progress and results; if not, the reasons for that and whether they will conduct such a review immediately;
(c) of the policies and measures for tracing whether that former ICAC Commissioner, upon receipt of the complaint(s) about the suspected corruption of and dereliction of duty by the former CE (who had nominated him as the Commissioner), had stalled or impartially handled the case; and
(d) of the circumstances under which the authorities may impose deduction from or even suspension of pension payments as a punishment for a retired civil servant who has been proved to have committed misconduct and dereliction of duty during his tenure as ICAC Commissioner and/or CCE?
Reply:
President,
Probity is the core value of Hong Kong, a recognised clean society for many years. For 39 years, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has established its reputation locally and globally for its devotion to combating corruption and upholding Hong Kong's core value of fairness and probity. The work of ICAC is recognised by the public and there has also been very high public expectation of the personal integrity of the ICAC personnel, in particular the senior management. Recent media reports on the handling of official entertainment, gifts and duty visits by the former Commissioner of ICAC have given rise to wide community concerns. The Government attaches high importance to this incident and would handle it seriously in order to maintain public confidence in ICAC.
To this end, the Chief Executive (CE) has announced last Thursday (May 2) the establishment of a four-member Independent Review Committee (IRC), with the Chairmen of three advisory committees, viz. the Advisory Committee on Corruption, the Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee and the Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations that oversee the work of ICAC, as well as the Chairman of ICAC Complaints Committee as members. The IRC will review ICAC's regulatory systems and procedures for handling expenses on official entertainment, gifts and duty visits, including arrangements for application, reimbursement and approval; review the compliance of ICAC staff of all ranks during the term of the former Commissioner of ICAC with the regulatory systems and procedures; and make recommendations on any measure conducive to improving the above systems and procedures. The IRC will submit its report to CE within four months. The report of the IRC will be released to the public, except any part which may need to be dealt with separately for legal reasons.
The Administration's reply to various parts of the question is as follows –
(a) ICAC has all along followed up each corruption allegation according to law. For investigations into the corruption allegations against ICAC officers, ICAC would seek legal advice from the Secretary for Justice in accordance with the established procedures before and after the investigations. The investigation progress and findings of all corruption complaints are reported to the Operations Review Committee which oversees ICAC investigations. In addition, in accordance with ICAC's internal mechanism on the declaration of conflict of interest, an ICAC officer is required to declare if there is any conflict of interest arising from the case being investigated by him/her or any person involved in the case. To ensure impartiality of the investigations, where necessary, the officer should avoid handling or having access to the case concerned after making the declaration. ICAC would not comment on individual corruption reports or cases.
(b) ICAC is devoted to maintaining social justice and combating corruption. Pursuant to Article 57 of the Basic Law, a Commission Against Corruption shall be established in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It shall function independently and be accountable to CE. In addition, it is stipulated in the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ordinance (Cap. 204) (ICACO) that the Commissioner of ICAC shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person other than CE. Both the Basic Law and ICACO provide for the independence of the Commissioner of ICAC so that the Commissioner can combat corruption in an impartial and all-rounded way and report to CE in respect of the functions and management issues of ICAC.
While ICAC and the Commissioner of ICAC are administratively independent from the Government organisation and civil service establishment, ICAC, by virtue of ICACO, is subject to Government regulations and guidelines in its discharge of administrative matters, unless CE's prior approval is obtained for modifying the application of such by standing orders. In addition, ICAC is subject to the monitoring of the five committees formed by Members of the Executive Council, Members of the Legislative Council, dignitaries of the community and professionals. Among these Committees, the Advisory Committee on Corruption oversees the management, administration, staff discipline and overall operation of ICAC, while the Operations Review Committee monitors the progress and results of all cases for investigation (including those which involve ICAC officers). On another front, the ICAC Complaints Committee handles non-criminal complaints against the Commission and its staff members. At the same time, the Executive Council, the Legislative Council, the Audit Commission, the media and the general public have never been lax in monitoring the work of ICAC.
(c) ICAC would not comment on individual cases. Over the years, ICAC has acted according to the mechanism and procedures mentioned in (a) to ensure that all investigations are dealt with impartially, and is subject to monitoring mentioned in (b). These mechanism and procedures are considered effective in safeguarding ICAC's credibility.
(d) The Administration may cancel, suspend or reduce the pension granted to a retired civil servant if he/she is convicted of one of the following criminal offences in connection with his/her previous public service under the Government as stipulated in the Pensions Ordinance (Cap. 89) or Pension Benefits Ordinance (Cap. 99) –
(i) any offence which is certified by CE to have been gravely injurious to Hong Kong or to be liable to lead to serious loss of confidence in the public service; or
(ii) any offence under Part II of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201).
In addition, the pension of a retired civil servant may be cancelled, suspended or reduced if he/she is convicted of treason under section 2 of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200).
Ends/Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Issued at HKT 11:45
NNNN
