Complaints about corruption in Hong Kong are on the rise - including 15 related to the chief executive election - the city's top graft-buster told an international symposium yesterday.
Timothy Tong Hin-ming, commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, said complaints to the ICAC increased 4 per cent in the first four months of this year, compared to last year - even though the number of cases with enough evidence for an investigation remained unchanged.
He was addressing the fifth ICAC Symposium, attended by anti-corruption delegates from more than 50 countries, at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Of the 1,267 complaints received by the ICAC in the first four months of the year, 825 were related to the commercial sector, 366 involved government officials and 76 involved public organisations, he said.
The chief executive election in March generated 15 complaints about issues including vote-rigging, providing free food and drinks during the campaign, and spreading false information, Tong said. The 2007 election produced six complaints, the ICAC said.
The commission received more than 2,000 corruption complaints related to the district council elections in November, a record for the district polls, Tong said.
He said the nature of bribery involving public figures had worsened nowadays to become a 'sinister form of self-generated advantage, created by a public officer using and abusing his public office to obtain a private benefit'.