The Immigration Department's system of dealing with suspected forged passports was not biased towards pressuring suspects into admitting guilt, officials said yesterday.
At a special Legco security panel meeting, officials sought to allay members' fears that the system might encourage immigration officers to choose the easy way out by securing confessions from suspects.
Members were concerned that officials would not conduct detailed examinations of passports once a holder had admitted owning a forged document.
Figures revealed by Deputy Secretary for Security Timothy Tong Hin-ming showed that only half of the 3,530 forged passport cases investigated last year by the Immigration Department resulted in prosecution.
Officials used the figures to show the benefit of the doubt was given to suspects if evidence was not satisfactory.
Of the 1,514 cases prosecuted, 1,492 - or 98.5 per cent - resulted in convictions. The accused in about 40 cases pleaded not guilty and 16 were acquitted.
Members asked how many of the convictions were based mainly on confessions.
