2ac3e8ec-79e1-49c9-b59b-52a9afc312a7_cc8faafe
The new chief of Hong Kong’s anti-graft agency has said his decades of experience in fighting corruption in the city’s prisons will help him lead the 1,400-member commission to safeguard the rule of law and national security.
Former head of correctional services Danny Woo Ying-ming, 56, took on his new role on July 1 after he was appointed by Beijing as the commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), succeeding Simon Peh Yun-lu who had held the position since 2012.
Addressing concerns about whether a former prison chief would be a suitable candidate for the top job of combating corruption in Hong Kong, Woo told the Post in an interview that he had devoted nearly one-third of his 33 years in the Correctional Services Department (CSD) to security and anti-graft work and had previously joined hands with ICAC investigators to remove prison staff who abused their positions.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
“The CSD has gone through a lot over the past few years, such as the social turmoil in 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected Hong Kong to a certain extent. The prisoners stemming from the social unrest had also been smearing the CSD. The crisis situations were unprecedented,” said Woo, who retired from the department in March.
“Such work experience is beneficial to all sorts of management, not just to the ICAC. I am very confident that my background and experience can lead the ICAC to new heights.”
Hong Kong’s John Lee convenes cabinet meeting to discuss to-do list from Xi
Woo said corruption could easily take place behind bars if it was not nipped in the bud, as prisoners sought to enjoy “privileges” by selling smuggled items to each other. Some might attempt to bribe prison staff to traffic banned items to them, he added.
One of the corruption cases he recalled took place between August 2003 and January 2004, when a CSD assistant officer smuggled nearly 2,000 tablets of the sedative drug midazolam to an inmate in Stanley Prison after taking a HK$60,000 (US$7,645) bribe.
Woo cooperated with the ICAC and arrested the man as he reported for duty one day in January. The assistant officer was later jailed for four years by the court.
While the new commissioner said he was still familiarising himself with the anti-graft organisation’s various departments, he noted that the next five years would be pivotal for the agency.
Woo is expected to lead the agency in safeguarding national security and implementing the “four expectations” laid out by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Hong Kong earlier this month to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule.
Xi told the local administration to improve governance, strengthen the momentum of development, solve people’s livelihood problems and uphold harmony and stability, especially for young residents.
Woo said he was especially wary of people who might employ corruption as a means of threatening national security, and was also concerned that foreign forces and media would smear the city’s rule of law.
“Integrity is fundamental for policies and governance goals to be realised. Otherwise, disruptions may occur, and residents would not be able to enjoy the fruits of governance or may even suffer,” he said.
The ICAC had been working closely with both mainland and international anti-graft bodies, the commissioner said, citing how the agency had established a framework in 2019 for tackling corruption in conjunction with relevant authorities in Guangdong province and Macau.
As part of efforts to integrate the agency into the nation’s development plan, Woo revealed he hoped to organise consultations and seminars in Qianhai, a frontier of the Greater Bay Area, the Chinese government’s scheme to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an integrated economic and business hub.
Will Hong Kong remain a global financial centre?
Riding on Hong Kong’s legacy of integrity over the past few decades, Woo said he had lofty goals for the decorated agency to climb higher in international anti-corruption rankings and further the city’s reputation as a clean and stable society.
Hong Kong ranked 12th among 180 economies in the 2021 corruption perceptions index of Transparency International, one of the top performers in the Asia-Pacific region.
“The ICAC has good management, that’s what I tell my staff, but we cannot be complacent. We have to keep improving,” Woo said.
He also said he saw a need for the agency to adhere to the city’s development goals by strengthening advocacy for Hong Kong’s corruption-free status and stable rule of law.
“In line with President Xi’s words – the youth will always have a future. I told the head of [the ICAC’s] social outreach [on Tuesday] that we must enhance youth outreach. This is something I will insist upon because I used to teach that we must educate the youngsters to get them back on the right path,” he said.
Last year, the ICAC received 2,264 corruption complaints covering all areas except elections, an increase of 18 per cent from 2020.
The agency said the surge in incidents was partly the result of numerous complaints involving the conduct of private businesses during a period of economic recovery when the Covid-19 pandemic had initially eased in 2021.
Head of Hong Kong’s graft-buster elected to lead global anti-corruption body
Woo stopped short of saying whether he would also take over his predecessor’s other role as president of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA), with Peh becoming head of the global body in January after his run was endorsed by both the central and city governments.
Woo said the agency was dealing with some handover work and would tell the public when a decision was made.
In May, Peh said he would pass the presidency to his successor if he stepped down as ICAC commissioner.
The IAACA was founded in 2006 to foster international collaboration and promote the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Former Hong Kong lawmaker jailed for 4 months for exposing ICAC investigation into police commander
- Hong Kong charges ex-legislator Chim Pui-chung, his son for fraud and a businesswoman for money laundering
- Hong Kong chief executive election 2022: anti-graft agency to deploy more than 80 officers to monitor leadership vote
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2022.
