What can Hong Kong do to strengthen its anti-corruption agency in these changing times?
- Tony Kwok takes stock of how far the Independent Commission Against Corruption has come in its 45 years. And, to meet future challenges, the government could turn its review committee into a statutory body and set up a Greater Bay Area academy
Many Hong Kong people credit the British colonial government for establishing the ICAC and making Hong Kong a renowned corruption-free society. But this statement is only half true. One should also ask why Hong Kong was so corrupt in the first place. Pre-1974, corruption in colonial Hong Kong had gone from bad to worse. By the 1970s, the problem was probably the worst in the world. Corruption was described as affecting Hongkongers “from womb to tomb”.
Almost every Hongkonger experienced it at some point in their life. It was amazing to observe at the time that whenever Hong Kong had a new governor or new police commissioner coming from Britain to take office, they would vow to eradicate corruption, only for the problem to be worse once they had completed their term.
Nearly 80 civil servants referred to departments over graft claims in 2018
To be fair, some credit should go to him for appointing the right people to head the ICAC. Jack Cater was named the first commissioner and John Prendergast the first head of operations. Both men were instrumental in setting up an excellent system at the ICAC that has enabled its continued success to this day.
The biggest credit should go to the first generation of ICAC staff who worked tirelessly and without fear to combat the powerful corruption syndicates at the time.
The ICAC’s work was not all smooth sailing, especially in the beginning. In October 1977, hundreds of police officers and their families took part in a huge protest against the crackdown, with some storming the ICAC office. MacLehose quickly gave in to the police demand and declared a generous amnesty for all offences committed before January 1, 1977.
The amnesty was most unfair because it immediately aborted hundreds of ICAC investigations. As a result, the suspects in these investigations got off scot-free and even got to keep their ill-gotten gains. That dealt a huge blow to the morale of the ICAC.
Hong Kong should also be grateful to Tung Chee-hwa, the special administrative region’s first chief executive. At the time of the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, there were signs of a resurgence in corruption, as some people who were unsure of the future decided to make “a quick buck” before leaving Hong Kong. Thanks to Tung’s great personal support of the ICAC, Hong Kong succeeded in remaining clean after 1997, proving false the Western media prediction of “the death of Hong Kong”.
So, what’s next for the ICAC? To meet its present and future challenges, it should consider addressing three issues.
It’s simply not fine for ICAC chief to say everything’s fine
First, the ICAC has increasingly been used by the opposition parties as a political tool. Politicians and activists have often made frivolous and even malicious complaints to the commission to achieve their political objectives. On every occasion, they made a show of lodging a complaint, parading for the media in front of the ICAC headquarters.
Tony Kwok is an adjunct professor at HKU Space and former deputy commissioner of the ICAC