**************************************************
Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, at a media session at Central Government Offices, Tamar, after the Fight Crime Committee meeting this afternoon (May 30):
Reporter: Can you tell us why the Government has scrapped the tradition of appointing a Senior Counsel to head the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Council) and how confident you are that Larry Kwok can carry out his duty impartially since he was a member of the CPPCC (Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference)? Regarding the latest fight crime figures, can you tell us why the crime cases involving bank robbery and blackmail have increased so significantly?
Secretary for Security: Perhaps I can answer your third question first. About the significant increase in blackmail cases, it involves "naked chats". I think we are quite familiar with this term. It means that through the Internet, somebody gets in touch with you, and then they ask you to do something. And, based on that, they ask you for money. We are very concerned about that. We have taken many kinds of actions against them, in particular, through publicity. In many of these cases, the culprit is not physically in Hong Kong because we all know that there's no boundary in the Internet world. The Hong Kong Police have been working very closely with their overseas counterparts. Recently, they provided intelligence, together with intelligence from America, Australia and so on, to the Philippines counterparts, resulting in a substantial arrest of suspects in the Philippines. This proves that we have made the correct move in collecting the intelligence and tried to tackle these groups. But, more importantly, I think that we need to work on more publicity so that Hong Kong citizens, in particular, for those who get used to use Internet to be fully aware of the trap they might be falling into.
You asked another question about the appointment of Mr (Larry) Kwok. I must reiterate that the appointment itself has been based on the standard procedures and considerations, including the nature of the work, the experience, the professional knowledge, ability and determination to serve the public. There is a list of elements we take into consideration. And then, we invite a suitable candidate and ask whether he is willing to take up the job. Mr Larry Kwok has very good experience in serving various commissions in the Government. He has a very good background in the legal field. I have every confidence that he can lead the IPCC impartially to carry on his job. More importantly, the IPCC is a statutory body. It is supported by a professional secretariat headed by a Secretary General and a group of colleagues. The system is here and is working under the law. Mr Kwok will be supported by three deputy chairmen as well as 20 experienced members. You will notice that this afternoon the Chief Executive does not only appoint Mr Kwok. He also re-appoints three members to continue serving the IPCC. So, I have every confidence that the work of IPCC will continue as usual and will proceed forward under the new leadership of Mr Kwok.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, May 30, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:42
NNNN
