Corruption in Hong Kong remained under effective control last year despite the latest financial turmoil shaking economies the world over, according to the ICAC's latest annual report.

Tabling ICAC's 2009 Annual Report at the Legislative Council today (Wednesday), Advisory Committee on Corruption member and legislator Mr Chan Kam-lam said that various indicators continued to evidence the ICAC's effectiveness, the public's disdain for corruption and their confidence in the Commission's work.

He said that international surveys continue to consider Hong Kong among the world's cleanest places, bearing testimony to the success of the holistic anti-graft strategy of the ICAC which entered into its 35th year of service to the community in the year under review.

The year 2009 saw corruption reports rise slightly by 2% to 3,450, of which 73% were pursuable and 69% non-anonymous. Private sector complaints accounted for 63% of the total with government departments and public bodies respectively taking up 31% and 6%. Case-based conviction rate was 85%.

ICAC Commissioner Dr Timothy Tong Hin-ming noted in his review in the annual report that the Hong Kong community and the Commission had done well together to weather the most serious financial turmoil the world had known in decades.

"The Commission mobilised all its energies to the discharge of its statutory duties, strengthening its efforts in the areas of law enforcement, prevention and education.

"The fact that there were no significant change in the number of overall reports of corruption received can be partly attributed to a far greater level of public vigilance than was evident during the financial crisis that shook Asia in 1997.

"Yet, whatever the state of the economy and public sentiment is, the Commission will always be on the alert in order to keep corruption under tight control," he said.

On the law enforcement front, Dr Tong said that the Commission was committed to vigorously seeking full compliance with the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance (ICSO) when investigating cases of corruption and related crimes.

Commissioner on Interception of Communications and Surveillance (C/ICS) Mr Justice Woo Kwok-hing had been invited to brief ICAC officers on the functions and powers of the oversight authority at an in-house seminar, he said.

The ICAC had also conducted regular briefings to help officers keep abreast of the latest legal and administrative requirement under ICSO. Relevant operational guidelines had been revised, new working procedures adopted and a new computerised management system put in place under vigorous efforts to ensure compliance.

"I can assure the public that we are taking all the advice and comments we have received from the C/ICS on compliance with the ICSO with the utmost seriousness," he said.

International collaboration with overseas law enforcement agencies and cross-boundary liaison with Mainland and Macao authorities in the fight against corruption continued to sit high on ICAC's action list.

Over 300 delegates from 39 jurisdictions met for three days in Hong Kong in December 2009 at the Fourth ICAC Symposium co-hosted by the ICAC and European Commission's European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to exchange experiences and explore strategies for strengthening cross-boundary co-operation and curbing private sector corruption and economic crime.

Good progress had also been made with our Mainland and Macao counterparts in various areas of co-operation relating to corruption prevention and education.

In light of the growing economic and social interaction between Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao, the ICAC had been discussing with its counterparts the establishment of a standing co-operation mechanism to provide cross-boundary businesses with improved corruption prevention services.

The year also saw Dr Tong leading ICAC's first delegation to Taiwan upon the invitation of its justice authorities to exchange views on issues of common interest such as integrity management, promotion of business ethics and moral education.

Always looking for ways to increase ICAC's regional and global contribution to the fight against corruption, the Centre of Anti-Corruption Studies was set up to offer a platform for local, Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies and academics to exchange views and conduct research on anti-corruption, corporate governance and integrity issues.

Locally, Dr Tong said that the ICAC remained well focused on continuous professional development in a drive to better prepare ICAC officers for fast changing times. A newly created Training and Development Group was tasked with overseeing the Commission's long-term staff training and development needs.

In view of the growingly complex nature of corruption and related fraud cases, the Commission had continued to step up staff training in financial investigation and computer forensics skills. In 2009, the two Financial Investigation Sections probed into 2,346 transactions with an aggregated sum of $6.7 billion in 162 cases.

The Commission continued to fight corruption through proactive prevention initiatives via its Corruption Prevention Department with special attention to various areas of public concern, including public health, food safety, environment protection and charitable fund-raising activities.

Keeping building management clean was a key work priority as the sector alone attracted 924 complaints in 2009, representing 42 per cent of all private sector corruption reports received.

Started in 2008, a three-year territory-wide comprehensive corruption prevention and education campaign entered its second year of implementation. The campaign helped property owners manage and maintain their buildings properly through toolkits of user-friendly guidelines, workshops, seminars, exhibitions and mass media publicity initiatives.

The Commission also took intense interest in the Government's "Operation Building Bright" and other similar building maintenance projects to help ensure that public funds would be fairly disbursed and projects properly monitored.

• ICAC Annual Report 2009