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The Prevention of Bribery (Amendment) Ordinance 2008 (Amendment Ordinance) comes into operation upon gazettal today (July 4).
"The Amendment Ordinance imposes restrictions on the Chief Executive (CE) in respect of any bribery acts of solicitation and acceptance of advantage and possession of unexplained property," a government spokesman said.
The Amendment Ordinance amends sections 4, 5 and 10 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO) so that the offences under these sections would be applicable to the CE. Under the amended sections 4 and 5 of the POBO, the CE will commit an offence if he solicits or accepts any bribes. Any person who offers any bribes to the CE will also commit an offence. In addition, under the amended section 10, if any CE or former CE maintains a standard of living or controls property disproportionate to his income that he cannot satisfactorily explain to the court, he will be guilty of an offence.
At present, the CE is already prohibited from offering or accepting bribes under the common law offence of bribery. Furthermore, under Article 47 of the Basic Law (BL), the CE must be a person of integrity and shall declare his assets to the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal. An impeachment mechanism is available under Article 73(9) of the BL (BL 73(9)) to handle charges of serious breach of law and dereliction of duty by the CE.
Since 1997, the CE's Office (CEO) has maintained a Register of gifts presented to the CE in his official capacity. The Register is available for public inspection through the website www.ceo.gov.hk/eng/ and is updated on a monthly basis. All gifts of an estimated value exceeding HK$400 received by the CE in his official capacity are recorded in the Register. The Register includes two lists, one covering items for government disposal and another one for the CE's personal retention. Should the CE wish to retain any gift on the Register, the CEO would invite the Government Logistics Department to arrange valuation and the CE may purchase the gift at the valued price.
"The application of the BL, common law and POBO provisions to the CE as well as the Register of gifts will work together to provide a more comprehensive and robust anti-corruption regime to safeguard the integrity of the CE and prevent any corrupt practices," the spokesman added.
The Amendment Ordinance also provides that when, upon investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), there is reason to suspect that the CE may have committed an offence under the POBO, the Commissioner, ICAC, may refer the matter to the Secretary for Justice (SJ). Upon receipt of the referral from the Commissioner, ICAC, the SJ may refer the matter to Legislative Council (LegCo) Members for them to consider whether to take any action under BL 73(9) if he has reason to suspect that the CE may have committed an offence under the POBO.
To facilitate the exercise of power under BL 73(9), the Amendment Ordinance allows LegCo Members to disclose information in the SJ's referral to the Secretary General, LegCo, who may then make disclosure to staff members of the LegCo Secretariat if so doing is reasonably necessary to enable LegCo Members to take or consider whether to take any action under BL 73(9). In addition, once the impeachment proceedings under BL 73(9) have been initiated, i.e. one-fourth of all LegCo Members have initiated a motion jointly to charge the CE with serious breach of law or dereliction of duty, disclosure of information in the SJ's referral by any party will no longer be subject to the restriction on disclosure under section 30 of the POBO.
"This referral mechanism is essential for the proper handling of a corruption complaint against the CE. It empowers the SJ to refer corruption complaints against the CE and the findings of the ICAC's investigation to LegCo Members while preserving the integrity, through section 30 of the POBO, of the ICAC's investigation when it is still in a covert stage," the spokesman said.
Ends/Friday, July 4, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:29
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