Independent Commission Against Corruption (Hong Kong)
The
Independent Commission Against Corruption (
ICAC;
Chinese: 廉"公署, and 總督特派廉"專"公署 before
1997) of
Hong Kong was establishedby
Governor Murray MacLehose on
15 February 1974 when Hong Kong was under
British rule . Its main aim was to clean up endemic
corruption in the
Hong Kong government and, in particular, the
Hong Kong Police (then the Royal Hong Kong Police). The head of the ICAC is the
Commissioner of ICAC.
The Hong Kong Police had previously had an Anti-Corruption Branch, but it did little to reduce corruption. There was a popular perception among Hong Kong locals the Anti Corruption cops essentially, following the discovery of corrupt practises, would then enter themselves into the dodgy deals.
A particular example was
Peter Fitzroy Godber, a senior officer at
Wanchai police station and later at
Kai Tak Airport police station. Before his retirement due date in 1973, he had amassed no less than 4.3 million Hong Kong Dollars (approximately 600,000 US Dollars) in his overseas bank accounts. The police anti-corruption branch investigated his mysterious wealth and ordered him to explain his source of income. In response, Godber immediately arranged for his wife to leave the colony, then he used his police airport pass to bypass Immigration and Passport checks and walked onto a plane for
London. Godber's escape led to a large public outcry over the integrity of the quality of the police's self-investigation and called for reforms in the government's anti-corruption efforts.
The newly-formed Independent Commission Against Corruption was created to root out corruption; unlike the old Police Anti-Corruption Branch, the new ICAC would be answerable only to the
Governor of Hong Kong. Local cynics first joked that "ICAC" stood for "Investigating Chinese Ancient Customs", or "I Can Accept Cash".
Godber was eventually extradited and brought back to Hong Kong for trial in
1974, but not before the ICAC granted two other high-ranking police officers amnesty over their own corruptions. Godber was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail.
In the early days there were running punch-ups between ICAC officers and angry policemen who stormed their offices in
Central District; this situation ended only with the announcement of a partial amnesty for minor corruptions committed before
1977. But gradually, the ICAC made itself felt, and several high profile police officers were tried and convicted.
In preparation for Hong Kong's reunification with China in 1997, the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China enacted the
Basic Law in 1990, providing for the establishment of a Commission Against Corruption. This anti-graft agency thus subsists as a
constitutionally sanctioned body. As a passing remark the name of the agency has been questioned as unconstitutional, however as the Chinese version of the Basic Law prevails over the English version, this is not considered a misnomer. Another interpretation is that the Basic Law only states that such a commission has to be established, without directing how it should be named.
In 2005, there were several legal cases in which evidence presented by the ICAC was ruled to have been collected through means that are unconstitutional.
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ICAC Hong Kong*
CCAC Website: Constitutionally sanctioned anti-graft government agency of Macauzh-yue:香港廉"公署
