Combating Corruption: the Hong Kong Experience

AuthorHui Wing-chi
Pages240-256
HUI (DO NOT DELETE) 2014/7/7 8:48 PM
240 TSINGHUA CHINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 6:239
COMBATING CORRUPTION:
THE HONG KONG EXPERIENCE
HUI Wing-chi*
Abstract
Corruption is a universal phenomenon and no society is devoid o f it. Although the world is not
short of ideas on how to tackle corruption, the Hong Kong experience is frequently quoted as
an epitome of success. Anti-corruption efforts have succeeded in Hong Kong because of the
establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1974. Over the
past 40 year s, the ICAC has devoted itself to anti-corruption work, turning a pervasively
corrupted place to one of the most corruption-free places in the world, and successfully upheld
Hong Kongs core values of fairness and probity. ICACs success is attributed to
indispensable factors wh ich can be interestingly summed up in the acronym ICAC, where I
stands for independent status, C for comprehensive and long -term strategy, A for adequate
resources, and C for community support.
Keywords: ICAC, anti-corruption, integrity, Hong Kong experience
I. INTRODUCTION
Hong Kong suffered from pervasive corruption in the 1960s and
1970s. Bribery was regarded as a necessary evil and a way to get
things done. The timely establishment and effectiveness of the
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1974
contributed significantly to the development of clean government1
and, as a result, Hong Kong has changed from a place where
corruption was once a way of life and penetrated almost every thread
of society to one of the most corruption-free places in the world.2
Hong Kong has achieved spectacular success in overcoming flagrant
corruption.3 In recent years, Hong Kong has consistently been rated
as one of the least corrupt territories in the world on the Corruption
Perceptions Index.4
This paper aims at summarizing the Hong Kong experience in
combating corruption, particularly efforts of the ICAC and the
factors contributing to its success. While the corruption problems in
1 I. Scott, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption: The Evolving Model, in A
GLOBAL HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IN CORRUPTION 401 (Graycar & R. Smith eds.,
2011).
2 Choi, J. W., Institutional Structures and Effectiveness of Anticorruption Agencies: A Comparative
Analysis of South Korea and Hong Kong, 2 ASIAN J. POL. SCI. 195 (2009).
3 MELANIE MANION, CORRUPTION BY DESIGN: BUILDING CLEAN GOVERNMENT IN MAINLAND
CHINA AND HONG KONG 2 (2004).
4 The Corrup tion Perceptions Index is an annual measurement assessing th e perceived extent of
corruption. It is compiled by Berlin-based Transparency International and based o n expert ratings and
surveys of business people.
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2013] COMBATING CORRUPTION 241
other parts of the world may be different, it is believed that many
corruption problems stem from common causes and may be
eradicated by similar approaches.
II. HONG KONGS ANTI-CORRUPTION EXPERIENCE
Hong Kong has a long history of tackling corruption but its
anti-corruption efforts work because of the Independent Commission
Against Corruption (ICAC), which was set up on 15 February
1974 after the enactment of the Independent Commission Against
Corruption Ordinance (ICACO). The establishment of the ICAC
marked the advent of a new comprehensive strategy to eradicate
corruption and it has changed much in Hong Kong that many
regarded as unchangeable.5 Today, the ICAC is not only an
anti-corruption enforcement agency per se, but also an institution
spearheading and representing integrity.
The ICAC was an outcome of both evolution and revolution. It
was not a product invented overnight. Its establishment came after
several decades of government efforts to develop stricter and more
severe legal measures against corruption.
A. Anti-Corruption Work Prior to the Establishment of the ICAC
Corruption was an endemic feature of colonial rule in Hong Kong
for well over a hundred years. Beginning in 1858, various attempts
were made to counter corruption.6 During 18581897, the bribery of
civil servants in Hong Kong was a misdemeanor under the Common
Law. The June 1897 gambling house scandal, which involved the
police, soiled the reputation of the Civil Service as a whole and
moved the legislature to enact the first law against corruption, the
Misdemeanours Punishment Ordinance (MPO) in 1898. The MPO
defined a bribe as any fee, perquisite, reward or gratification,
whether pecuniary or otherwise, not payable or receivable by law
and made bribery an offence for both the person offering a bribe and
the civil servant accepting it. However, the MPO was ineffective
because it was applicable only to the civil servants and its definition
was restricted to bribery only.7 Nevertheless, in pre-1941 Hong
Kong corruption was not in any sense a serious social problem as it
did not give rise to great public concern, prolonged debate,
5 Ambrose Y.C. King, An Institutional Response to Corruption: The ICAC of Hong Kong, in HONG
KONG: DILEMMAS OF GROWTH 115 (C.K. Leung, J.W. Cushman & G. Wang eds., 1980).
6 See QUAH JON S.T., CURBING CORRUPTION IN ASIAN COUNTRIES: AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM? 237
(2011); see also Scott, supra note 1.
7 H.C. Kuan, Anti-Corru ption Legislation in Hong Kong A History, in CORRUPTI ON AND ITS
CONTROL IN HONG KONG: SITUATION UP TO THE LATE SEVENTIES 15 (Rance P. L. Lee ed., 1981).

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