ICAC chief Bertrand de Speville yesterday raised concerns that Chinese state-funded enterprises are increasingly corrupt, giving local businessmen and civil servants opportunities for graft never seen before.
''As far as we know we have investigated 301 cases having, or initially thought to have, a PRC connection . . . but so intertwined is Hong Kong and China business that the figures I have given you may actually be higher,'' Mr de Speville told the Countdown to 1997 business conference.
''I anticipate that some of you here expect me to foresee Hong Kong being drowned in an inexorable wave of cross-border crime and corruption in the run-up to 1997.
''Those of you who expect such a prophecy . . . will be disappointed. We are concerned, but we are not despondent,'' he said.
Increased cross-border trade exposed civil servants and businessmen to temptations and double-standards on a scale not before realised while Chinese workers ''inclined to venality'' were susceptible to corrupt advances here.
Recent investigations involving mainland firms had led to the charging of 19 PRC nationals, 21 Hong Kong civil servants and 400 citizens.
There was an 18 per cent increase in the number of reports of corruption during the first two months of this year compared with the same period last year. This followed a 44 per cent rise during 1993 compared to the previous 12 months.