HONG KONG
Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has reported that 78 Public Servants were referred to their Departments for possible disciplinary action last year following corruption complaints against them.
This represents a 20 per cent year-on-year rise.
The surge came despite a 6 per cent decline in corruption complaints overall, while an ICAC statement stressed that graft in the city was well under control.
The Agency received 2,494 non–election-related complaints, of which two-thirds (1,655 cases) were against people in the private sector and 27 per cent against Government Departments.
The remaining seven per cent involved other public bodies.
Chair of ICAC’s Operations Review Committee, Benjamin Tang Kwok-bun (pictured) said he recommended referring the 78 Government workers to their Bureaus and Departments even if they had not broken the law, as they could still have conducted themselves badly.
“We cannot therefore assume that the performance of Civil Servants is deteriorating,” Mr Tang said.
“Maybe they have been doing better, because many of these cases did not involve corruption, but rather disciplinary problems.”
Of the 78, a total of 33 were accused of providing false information or misuse of authority; another 11 allegedly neglected their duty, while 10 were accused of accepting improper loans.
Corruption complaints against public bodies climbed by 7 per cent to 178 cases in the first 11 months of last year, compared with the same period in 2017.
The Hospital Authority led the pack among public bodies, with 39 cases, up by one, year-on-year.
It was followed by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation ,with 21 cases, compared with 13 cases in the first 11 months of 2017.
The rest of the 19 complaints involved District Councils.
Hong Kong, 11 January 2019
