Hong Kong protests making investigations into corruption more complex, ICAC says, despite drop in number of cases lodged

Independent Commission Against Corruption pledges to look thoroughly into case of police handling of Yuen Long attacks, but does not reveal further details

Agency says overall workload has increased in protest-hit city, despite number of complaints in all areas dropping

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The ICAC headquarters in North Point. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 10:10pm, 14 Jan 2020Updated: 11:53pm, 14 Jan 2020

The ongoing protests in Hong Kong have made investigations into corruption more complex despite a 14 per cent drop in the number of complaints lodged, according to the city’s graft-buster.

But the agency refused to reveal details of its probe into accusations against police of failing to protect the public in the Yuen Long mob attacks last July, only pledging to look at the case thoroughly.

The remarks by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) were made on Tuesday at an annual graft review of the city, given by four advisory committees of the watchdog.

They described the civil unrest, sparked by the now-withdrawn extradition bill and into its eighth month, as “posing great challenges to ICAC’s work”.

(From left) Professor Timothy Tong, chairman of the citizens advisory committee on community relations; Benjamin Tang, chairman, operations review committee; Martin Liao, chairman, advisory committee on corruption; and Adrian Wong, chairman, corruption prevention advisory committee present their ICAC findings. Photo: Sam Tsang

“We have a heavier workload and the work is more complicated. The figures do not tell the whole story,” said Benjamin Tang Kwok-bun, chairman of ICAC’s operations review committee, which monitors investigations.