Corruption complaints rise 9pc amid recovery
Top News | 11 Jul 2024
Stacy Shi
The city's graft busters received 2,001 non-election-related corruption complaints last year, up 9 percent year on year, according to the Independent Commission Against Corruption's annual report issued yesterday.
Advisory committee on corruption chairman Martin Liao Cheung-kong said the increase is mainly due to the gradual recovery of Hong Kong's economy as the pandemic subsides, leading to a corresponding rise in complaints against private institutions.
The ICAC report tabled in the Legislative Council yesterday showed that over 70 percent of the complaints concerned the private sector, with 544 related to the building management industry, which was up 30 percent.
This was followed by 142 complaints against finance and insurance organizations.
To assist property management companies in preventing corruption, the ICAC launched the new Corruption Prevention Guide for Property Management Companies last year, Liao said.
It also saw its largest corruption case over building maintenance involving HK$6.5 million in bribes.
Regarding the public sector, the police force attracted the most with 104 complaints, while 61 complaints were related to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
Thirteen government employees were prosecuted for corruption, which he said were "isolated cases," as the civil service remained "clean and honest."
Liao added: "To deepen integrity in government departments, the ICAC will also conduct exchanges with senior to directorate civil servants in courses organized by the Civil Service College."
The watchdog received 19 complaints against its own staff, with one substantiated and four still under investigation. In terms of prosecution figures, the ICAC prosecuted 211 people last year, including seven involved in election offenses.
Citing the annual survey conducted between last November and February, Liao said 98.9 percent of the 1,728 respondents indicated that they had not personally come across corruption in the past 12 months.
Some 96 percent also agreed that keeping the city corruption-free was important to its overall development, "reflecting that Hong Kong is a very clean society."
From an international perspective, Hong Kong ranked 14th out of 180 countries and territories rated in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2023 released by Transparency International .
It was also ninth out of 142 countries and territories in the "absence of corruption" in the World Justice Project's 2023 Rule of Law Index.
"These rankings not only reflect Hong Kong's effective anti-corruption work, but also the city's sound rule of law," Liao said.
stacy.shi@singtaonewscorp.com
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