Select Committee to Inquire into Matters Relating to Mr Timothy TONG's Duty Visits, Entertainment, and Bestowing and Receipt of Gifts during his Tenure as Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Report)

Report of the Select Committee to Inquire into
Matters Relating to Mr Timothy TONG's Duty Visits,
Entertainment, and Bestowing and Receipt of Gifts
during his Tenure as Commissioner of the
Independent Commission Against Corruption

July 2014

Download Full Report
TABLE OF CONTENTS
		Page
Part I	Establishment of the Select Committee and its work
Chapter 1	Introduction	1 – 4
	Background	1 – 3
	Establishment of the Select Committee	3 – 4
Chapter 2	Various matters relating to the Select Committee	5 – 23
	Membership of the Select Committee	5
	Terms of reference, areas of study and work plan of the Select Committee	6 – 10
	Practice and procedure	10 – 15
	Hearings of the Select Committee	15 – 22
	Report	22 – 23
Part II	Matters relating to Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming's official duty visits, entertainment, and bestowing and receipt of gifts during his tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption
Chapter 3	Basic information on the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	24 – 29
	Statutory status and functions	24 – 25
	Regulations applicable to the Commissioner and officers of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	25
	Independent Commission Against Corruption's Mission Statement and Code of Ethics	26
	Monitoring mechanisms	27 – 29
Chapter 4	Official duty visits	30 – 45
	Relevant policy/regulatory systems during Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming's tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	30
	Official duty visits outside Hong Kong made by Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming during his tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	31 – 39
	Findings and recommendations	40 – 45
Chapter 5	Official entertainments	46 – 65
	Relevant policy/regulatory systems during Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming's tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	46 – 47
	Official entertainments hosted by Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming during his tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	48 – 60
	Findings	60 – 65
Chapter 6	Bestowing of gifts	66 – 78
	Relevant policy/regulatory systems during Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming's tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	66
	Bestowing of gifts by the Independent Commission Against Corruption during Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming's tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	67 – 75
	Findings and recommendations	76 – 78
Chapter 7	Receipt of Gifts	79 – 91
	Relevant policy/regulatory systems during Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming's tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	79 – 82
	Receipt of gifts by Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming during his tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption	83 – 88
	Findings and recommendations	88 – 91
Chapter 8	Conclusions and recommendations	92 – 104
	Conclusions	92 – 100
	Recommendations	101 – 104
Part III	Provision of information by the Independent Commission Against Corruption to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council
Chapter 9	The manner in which the Independent Commission Against Corruption provided information related to the official duty visits and bestowing of gifts by Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming during his tenure as the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in April 2013	105 – 118
	Sequence and development of events	106 – 108
	Workflow of the preparation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption's replies	108 – 109
	Reasons for the inaccuracies in the replies to the Finance Committee	110 – 114
	Findings and recommendations	114 – 118
Acknowledgement		120
Signatures of members of the Select Committee		121 – 122
Abbreviations		125 – 126
Appendices
Appendix 1	Petition jointly signed by Hon Dennis KWOK and Hon Cyd HO	129
Appendix 2	Practice and Procedure of the Select Committee	130 – 140
Appendix 3	Press release issued by Department of Justice on 14 May 2013	141 – 142
Appendix 4	Press release issued by the Independent Commission Against Corruption ("ICAC") on 14 May 2013	143 – 144
Appendix 5	Questions raised by the Select Committee for reply by ICAC	145 – 153
Appendix 6	Written reply dated 6 September 2013 from ICAC to the Select Committee	154 – 156
Appendix 7	Written reply dated 27 September 2013 from ICAC to the Select Committee	157 – 158
Appendix 8	Written reply dated 23 October 2013 from ICAC to the Select Committee	159 – 160
Appendix 9	List of questions submitted by Hon Cyd HO to the Select Committee	161 – 163
Appendix 10	Written reply from ICAC to the questions raised by Hon Cyd HO	164 – 168
Appendix 11	Information on ICAC's policy on duty visits	169
Appendix 12	Written reply dated 28 May 2014 from the Chief Executive's Office to the Select Committee	170
Appendix 13	Details of the 35 duty visits outside Hong Kong headed by the former Commissioner of ICAC, Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming, from 2007-2008 to 2012-2013	171 – 186
Appendix 14	Itinerary of the duty visit to Beijing-Kunming-Lijiang (11 to 17 January 2009)	187 – 188
Appendix 15	Itinerary of the duty visit to Beijing-Chengdu-Leshan (16 to 23 May 2010)	189 – 190
Appendix 16	Information on the number of reports submitted by the former Commissioner of ICAC, Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming, to the Chief Executive after attending duty visits outside Hong Kong	191
Appendix 17	Relevant parts of ICAC's Commission Standing Orders relating to duty visits applicable during Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming's tenure as the Commissioner of ICAC and the changes that have been made since Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming left ICAC	192
Appendix 18	Information on ICAC's policy, rules and guidelines on official entertainment	193 – 194
Appendix 19	Information on the procedure for approving the hosting of official entertainment by the Commissioner and officers of ICAC	195
Appendix 20	Information on the procedure for handling the expenses arising from the official entertainment made by the Commissioner and officers of ICAC	196
Appendix 21	Information on the attendees of ICAC's Weekly Meetings and the procedures for drafting and confirming the minutes of these meetings	197
Appendix 22	ICAC's Commission Standing Orders relating to entertainment expenses	198 – 200
Appendix 23	Form 569 introduced by ICAC in June 2008	201 – 202
Appendix 24	Information on the lunches/dinners hosted by the Commissioner of ICAC for the Consuls General in Hong Kong	203 – 204
Appendix 25	Reply from ICAC on the lunches/dinners hosted by the former Commissioner of ICAC, Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming, for the Consuls General in Hong Kong	205
Appendix 26	Terms of reference, composition and term of office of the committee overseeing the operation of ICAC Staff Mess	206
Appendix 27	Reply from ICAC on whether there were any precedent cases in which chefs from other organizations were arranged to provide catering services for the functions of ICAC	207
Appendix 28	ICAC's Commission Standing Orders relating to entertainment expenses and offering/exchange of souvenirs	208 – 212
Appendix 29	Information on ICAC's policy, rules and guidelines on bestowing and receipt of gifts	213 – 214
Appendix 30	Information on the incorporation of the policy on exchange of gifts into ICAC's Commission Standing Orders	215 – 226
Appendix 31	Examples of "Commission-wide" gifts of ICAC	227 – 228
Appendix 32	Examples of gifts procured by individual departments of ICAC	229
Appendix 33	List of gifts presented by Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming during his tenure as the Commissioner of ICAC to government officials of different places and paid out of public funds	230 – 255
Appendix 34	List of the standard souvenirs currently available in ICAC	256
Appendix 35	Civil Service Bureau Circular No. 4/2007 - Advantages/entertainment offered to an officer in his official capacity and gifts and donations to a department for the benefit of staff	257 – 285
Appendix 36	ICAC's regulations relating to the personal retention of gifts offered/presented to the Commissioner in his official capacity	286
Appendix 37	Information on the procedure for approving the bestowing and receipt of gifts by the Commissioner and officers of ICAC	287
Appendix 38	Information provided by ICAC on the applications made by Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming during his tenure as the Commissioner of ICAC for personal retention of gifts	288 – 293
Appendix 39	Information provided by the Chief Executive's Office on the applications made by Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming during his tenure as the Commissioner of ICAC for personal retention of gifts	294 – 297
Appendix 40	Written reply from ICAC to Members' initial questions in examining the Estimates of Expenditure 2013-2014 - Reply Serial No. ICAC014	298
Appendix 41	Press release issued by ICAC on 26 April 2013	299
Appendix 42	Information provided by ICAC on the omission of information in its replies to the Finance Committee	300
Appendix 43	Workflow of the preparation and vetting of ICAC's replies to Members' initial and supplementary questions on the Estimates of Expenditure 2013-2014	301 – 302
Appendix 44	Reasons for the provision of incomplete information by ICAC to the Finance Committee	303
Lists of written evidence/documents
A.	Evidence/documents provided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption	308 – 309
B.	Documents provided by the Administration	310
C.	Evidence/documents provided by witnesses	311
D.	Documents referred to by the Select Committee	312 – 313
Minutes of proceedings		317 – 328

Minutes of evidence of public hearings

Table of Contents

No.	Date of public hearing	Witness
1	25 January 2014	Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming Former Commissioner, Independent Commission Against Corruption
2	1 March 2014	Mr Timothy TONG Hin-ming Former Commissioner, Independent Commission Against Corruption
		Mr Simon PEH Yun-lu Commissioner, Independent Commission Against Corruption Ms Julie MU Fee-man Director of Community Relations, Independent Commission Against Corruption Mrs Jennie AU YEUNG WONG Mei-fong Acting Assistant Director/Administration, Independent Commission Against Corruption