ICAC 'used' to taint political reputations, says former No 2
People with 'motives' may seek to damage the reputations of high-profile foes by filing graft complaints, says agency's former No 2
People who make high-profile corruption complaints are trying to use the ICAC to tarnish the reputations of political opponents, according to a former No 2 in the anti-graft agency.
Tony Kwok Man-wai says people with "political motives" may see a complaint - however lacking in substance - as an easy way to inflict political and personal damage.
A senior legal source agreed that people were "politicising" the process and called on the ICAC to decide sooner whether complaints had substance.
Kwok, a former Independent Commission Against Corruption deputy commissioner, backed chief executive Leung Chun-ying during his election campaign.
His comments come as ICAC investigations into four of Hong Kong's most senior officials - past and present - continue and as corruption trials await two other former senior officials.
"When the ICAC tell them [the complainants] they will start to investigate, they tell the press about it in a high-profile way as if the person under investigation had been convicted," said Kwok, who retired from the ICAC in 2002 after 33 years of service.