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The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong was formed on 15 February 1974 by then-Governor of Hong Kong Murray MacLehose to clean up endemic corruption in the Hong Kong government and in particular, the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. The head of the ICAC is the Commissioner of ICAC.
Background
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.
Development
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.
External links
Law enforcement agencies of Hong Kong | Political corruption
"Independent Commission Against Corruption (Hong Kong)"