I THINK it has been admitted that I was the prime anti-corruption fighter responsible for the eventual setting up of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Living at the grassroots level, I saw the devastating effects of corruption on the lives of the people. I have spent my life fighting this disease and will continue to do so.
In earlier days one could get evidence from honest civil servants, from victims, or even by going out armed with a camera, because it was practised openly at street level. Now it has become sophisticated, making evidence more difficult to find. It is therefore essential that the ICAC and its counterpart in China should co-operate and be well equipped with the powers to do the job.
Corruption grew with economic success. The Government was not prepared to admit it existed. Few in the community spoke up against it, mainly because they were afraid of the consequences. if they were government servants they would lose their jobs, and if they were private citizens they were likely to have false charges laid against them, leading to imprisonment and possible deportation. No Legislative Councillors represented the people, and some benefited from corruption.
The setting up of the ICAC in 1974 was a big step forward, thanks to the determination of the then Governor. However, even at that time I had some reservations on its ultimate success: Some officers of the ICAC at first were secondees from the police. Soon after its setting up, some of those officers had to be removed, but instead of being fired, they were reinstated in their police posts.
The ICAC was not truly independent, because all cases had to be vetted by the Prosecutions Section of the Legal Department where decisions to prosecute were made. I need not give details of cases when the Legal Department decided not to prosecute, or where cases have been so badly prepared that they were thrown out of court, or where there has been outright corruption. One need only examine the Reid case. Reid was accepting bribes for refraining to take prosecution action against wealthy criminals.
Besides these built-in weaknesses, there have been other influences to weaken the impact of the ICAC, such as the police amnesty. At that time, in the late '70s, the ICAC was prosecuting a large number of corrupt police officers and senior police were likely to be arrested in connection with the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit-market racket which had gone on for many years. Policy rioters attacked the ICAC headquarters, and rumour had it that the triads were about to join them.
Those who escaped punishment through the amnesty remained to continue their activities, while many who had already been convicted entered into the gambling and vice business which they had been protecting. They were then protected by their old buddies in the police.
