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SCMP Reporter

THE ICAC wants a formal system for referring corruption complaints between Hong Kong and the mainland.

   Officials from the anti-graft body will travel to Guangzhou next month to negotiate the programme.

  Commissioner Bertrand de Speville said yesterday he hoped China would agree that all corruption allegations linked to the territory should be passed to the ICAC for investigation.

  He also envisaged a system where a 'handful' of cases each year might be given to the Chinese.

  But he said the ICAC would not pass on allegations if the complainant were unwilling.

  'But we are seeing a gradual increase in cases reported to us which have nothing to do with Hong Kong but occur entirely in China,' he said.

  'It would probably be no more than a handful each year.

  'It is to deal with that expected increase in the number of cases that we really do want to have in place a service for the complainant.'   He said the system was also needed for those in China who wanted to complain about corruption in Hong Kong.

  'There is no need for a statutory system but we want to make sure that the Chinese side are agreeable to us referring complaints with the consent of the complainant.

  'Sometimes that happens. We get a complaint made to us that doesn't concern Hong Kong at all. The matter is entirely about things that happen in China.'    ICAC officers now make formal requests to visit the mainland to help investigations.

  Normally an interview takes place in the presence of a Chinese official and with the consent of the subject.

  Mr de Speville said he wanted to push hard next year to secure closer working ties with China's Supreme People's Procuratorate.

  'On the operational front, we have many contacts with them,' he said.

 'Although, I must stress our ability to co-operate on the operational front is limited because we do have two very different and distinct legal systems.'   Mr de Speville referred to a recent survey pointing out the public's increased fears over corruption after 1997.

  In 1992, 40 per cent of respondents said corruption was prevalent in the business sector and that the 1997 issue would cause an increase in graft.

  But, Mr de Speville said, in 1994 this had risen to 70 per cent in a 'quite striking' indication of public attitudes.



Officials to negotiate complaint system with China