Senior US officials says regional economic bloc could learn from city's top-notch graft-busters
KRISTINE KWOKkristine.kwok@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 14 September, 2014, 6:15am
UPDATED : Sunday, 14 September, 2014, 6:15am
Senior US official Robert Wang has urged Hong Kong to protect its judicial independence. Photo: Dickson Lee
Hong Kong's 40-year-old anti-graft agency can be a model for members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, a visiting US senior official says.
But it was also vital for the city to uphold its judicial independence, said Robert Wang, senior US State Department official for the regional bloc.
Wang, a US Foreign Service representative to Hong Kong in the late 1980s, suggested to Independent Commission Against Corruption Commissioner Simon Peh Yun-lu on Thursday that the city could host workshops for Apec members to impart the graft-buster's tricks of the trade.
"Hong Kong is a real model in terms of what the ICAC has been able to do," Wang said yesterday.
The agency's credibility took a hit last year over the spending habits of a former chief, Timothy Tong Hin-ming, and its community relations department. Also, uncertainties are looming over the city's political and economic future.
The key to retaining the public's trust was to maintain judicial independence, Wang said.
"Clearly, Hong Kong's major advantage is that it has its rule of law, and it has a great tradition in terms of combating corruption," he said. "Certainly we hope this will continue."
Under China's chairmanship, Apec has ramped up cooperation in the fight against corruption. Last month, members met in Beijing to launch an information-sharing platform, the Apec Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies.
China itself is on an aggressive anti-graft campaign, but a major obstacle has been a lack of extradition treaties with Western countries including the United States and Canada, the most popular destinations for corrupt Chinese officials on the run. Last month, the China Dailyreported that more than 150 Chinese fugitives, mostly corrupt officials or graft suspects, were hiding out in the US.
Despite the absence of a Sino-US extradition pact, Wang said, special arrangements were in place to allow the two countries to work together on cross-border bribery issues.
"Our main focus within Apec is to encourage better understanding of the laws and regulations of each economy with respect to asset recovery, extradition or things of that nature," he said.
Wang, who was visiting Hong Kong after a trip to Beijing, refrained from commenting on the impact the Occupy Central pro-democracy protest movement might have on the economy. But he said the people of Hong Kong should be allowed to speak up.
"I would say personally that in many ways, the openness of Hong Kong, which includes allowing different groups to present their opinions in strong and vibrant ways within the law, is something that Hong Kong stands for," he said.
"If Hong Kong would not be able to have people speak out, then it's not Hong Kong."
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1592008/hong-kongs-graft-busters-model-asia-pacific-says-us-official
