Advertisement
Advertisement
Hong Kong protests
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
The ICAC headquarters in North Point. Photo: Felix Wong

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

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They described the civil unrest, sparked by the now-withdrawn extradition bill and into its eighth month, as “posing great challenges to ICAC’s work”.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

Tang said the agency received 2,297, or 14 per cent fewer non-election corruption complaints last year compared with 2,665 cases in 2018. Around 76 per cent of such cases were pursuable.

For election-based complaints – stemming from the district council polls in November – the agency said it received 518 cases by the end of 2019, of which 95 per cent were pursuable.

The figures do not tell the whole story
Benjamin Tang, chairman, ICAC operations review committee

 ICAC’s biennial review report for 2015 and 2016 showed it received 1,065 complaints from district council elections then, but the pursuable rate was not stated.

“A case can be more complicated than another. The number of cases received do not show our entire workload. ICAC is facing the same problems as the rest of society amid this unrest,” Tang said of the latest statistics.

He did not reveal the total number of complaints linked to protests, saying it was inappropriate to touch on cases.

The committees confirmed that ICAC had received complaints over police conduct, centred on the events of the night of July 21, when a group of white-clad men with wooden sticks and metal poles attacked commuters and protesters indiscriminately in Yuen Long MTR station, injuring 45.

Police were accused of showing up late to restore order, when officers took 35 minutes to arrive.

Top police brass had countered that manpower was tied up that night with violent protests on Hong Kong Island, while officers in Yuen Long were busy attending to other emergencies.

According to sources, ICAC had set up a dedicated group to handle the investigation.

But Tang refused to confirm the arrangement or comment on the case, only saying there was a clear division of labour within teams.

“Please rest assured that our committee members will follow up on each case. The investigating team will not terminate the probe without our agreement,” Tang added.

Corruption watchdog charges two for ‘lucky bags’ vote buying at by-elections

Overall, about two-thirds of non-election complaints involved the private sector, while 28 per cent were related to government departments and 7 per cent, public bodies.

All categories recorded drops compared with 2018.

In 2019, 134 people in 86 non-election cases were prosecuted.The conviction rate for this category dropped slightly from 80 per cent to 79 per cent.

Tang said the reason for the drop in the number of cases was unknown, and ICAC could not determine if it was linked to the social unrest. He added that many factors, such as better anti-corruption awareness, could be attributed to the result.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Protests have made corruption probes ‘more complicated’
Post