GOVERNMENT corruption is not widespread and the ICAC is in control of the problem, the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Barrie Wiggham, insisted yesterday in the wake of raids on a cross-border smuggling ring.
''There are always bad apples . . . but I don't see it as a big problem in the civil service,'' said Mr Wiggham, who also serves on the ICAC's main policy panel, the Advisory Committee on Corruption (ACOC).
''The ICAC is on top of this, both in terms of education and prevention,'' he said.
But Professor Felice Lieh-mak, an Executive Councillor who was recently named chairman of the ACOC, said the suspected border corruption revealed this week could be a sign of things to come as 1997 neared.
''It's symbolic of the things we're worried about; running up to 1997 there will be more corruption,'' said Professor Lieh-mak.
''We haven't wiped out corruption in Hongkong. We have suppressed it and made people more aware of it . . . but it's very tempting and with opportunities there, and if the environment is right, we'll see an upsurge.'' She said the high value of the stolen cars and electrical goods seized in this week's crackdown demonstrated the lure posed by corruption.