ICAC to get $1m computer update
The ICAC has earmarked $1 million to boost its computer capability to fight financial crimes.
It will set up a new financial investigation section next month and a team for computer forensics and research development will start operations in April. Six new positions will be created.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption's assistant director of operations, Gilbert Chan Tak-shing, said the graft-busting body would fall behind on information technology without the upgrade because sophisticated criminals were using advanced computer techniques.
'It takes only a few seconds for millions of dollars to be transferred to an offshore fund, so we have to be vigilant in studying their accounts,' he said.
'Accounting and computer advances can help us uncover ill-gotten gains and bring proof to confiscate them, rather than letting [the money] be recycled back to the criminal syndicate.' He cited the commission's successful use of computer tracking in the recent prosecution of World Cup football match-fixing.
The new fund would include the establishment of a back-up system enabling the retrieval of data while leaving the suspected base material intact as court evidence.
Most of ICAC investigators already held computer degrees.
The move stems from Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's Policy Address pledge to boost the ICAC.
