ICAC received fewer than 2,000 complaints last year

Advisers to the Independent Commission Against Corruption say the watchdog received fewer than 2,000 corruption complaints in 2020, the lowest number in 40 years.

The number of reports of corruption received by the body has been declining since 2016, and last year’s figure of 1,924 was 16 percent down on 2019.

This figure does not include the more than 800 complaints received regarding alleged election fraud.

Asked whether the dwindling number of complaints could be a sign that people have become reluctant to report cases of graft, Benjamin Tang, chairman of the ICAC’s Operations Review Committee, said various factors could be behind the decline, but last year’s drop was due to less economic activity amid the pandemic.

“The population may be preoccupied with other things, in fighting the virus, in other economic concerns about their own jobs. A drop is not surprising. It’s been an unprecedented year, not just for Hong Kong, but for the world,” Tang said.

Among the 1,924 complaints, 1,134 involved the private sector, 629 related to government departments and 161 reports were filed against public bodies.

Just like in 2019, the government department which saw the greatest number of complaints last year was the police, with 173 reports, with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Housing Department coming next on the list.

Meanwhile, the ICAC prosecuted 154 people last year, three people fewer than the year before.

The chairman of the Advisory Committee on Corruption, lawmaker Martin Liao, said the corruption situation in Hong Kong remains well under control, adding that a probity culture has been firmly rooted in the city.

The advisers said they could not give any details regarding the progress of an ICAC investigation into the Yuen Long mob attack on July 21, 2019.

They said the watchdog is highly concerned about the issue and a special investigation team is looking into complaints regarding what happened.

“The [ICAC’s] operations department does make regular reports to the committee, and the committee meets on a regular basis. So we have been following the progress of the report, but I can’t tell you what progress they have made,” said Tang.

Police have been accused of doing nothing to prevent the indiscriminate beatings at Yuen Long MTR Station, failing to respond once the violence began, and of making no effort to arrest the perpetrators.

Some of the victims of the gang attack were last year arrested and charged with rioting.