Customs report on data security follows death of senior officer

The customs chief is to report to the security minister on whether the mechanism to prevent its officers from leaking confidential information is still effective.

Commissioner for Customs and Excise Timothy Tong Hin-ming revealed the move a day after the death of a top officer who had been arrested for allegedly accepting bribes for leaking details about copyright investigations.

Senior Superintendent Simon Wong Shiu-ming was found unconscious on a pavement below a car park in Kwai Chung on Thursday. His car keys and a parking ticket were found on the seventh floor. He was declared dead in hospital.

Hours earlier he had been released unconditionally by the ICAC.

Wong was the second high-ranking customs officer to be arrested by the anti-graft agency in six months. In November, Ricky Len Sing-yan, the department's assistant trade controls officer, was charged for leaking confidential information to a factory operator in return for bribes.

Mr Tong refused to comment yesterday on whether regulations and procedures on the handling and dissemination of classified information or documents needed to be improved.

But he said: 'I guarantee that I will report on this in full to the secretary for security.'