ICAC looks to be perfect on paper in interrogations

The Independent Commission Against Corruption has been upgrading its video interview rooms, including installing cameras on the ceiling, to film documents on tables during investigations in order to reduce disputes in court.

That came after the ICAC hosted a workshop for the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime's GlobE Network with more than 100 of its officers participating to share some of its latest technologies, including third-generation video interview rooms that claims to be more secure in safeguarding the rights of people being investigated and allow better evidence storage.

It currently has 28 such rooms, with four of them renovated at a cost of about HK$100,000 each.

Principal investigator Bonnie Wong Kar-man said three USB devices would be used in each meeting instead of, like in the past, videotapes and DVD.

"The original video will be sealed for court use while the copies will be kept by the inspector and the person under investigation which are encrypted and cannot be changed or deleted," said Wong.

It also features at least four high-definition cameras that can record in detail documents and the situation with the interrogation and speech-to-text software that would save time in court.

"Although we have been holding training courses for other agencies, with the support of the mainland this time, we will be able to share the experience of using technology to investigate cases for the first time in the UN," said assistant director Bryan Chong Ka-lok.

The UN office expressed delight at ICAC's role, with its corruption and economic crimes branch chief, Brigitte Strobel-Shaw, saying "we have a very diverse membership in GlobE, so we have very advanced agencies like the ICAC, and we have agencies that are much more basic in their knowledge and I think ICAC pitched the training very well."

Chong said the workshop has provided a valuable experience for the Hong Kong International Academy Against Corruption, to be set up in February.

"This visit has laid a solid foundation for the ICAC's future anti-corruption courses," he added.

Eric Chan Cheuk-hay, chief academy officer at the ICAC said it will provide a variety of courses.

"We'll host a succession of courses on the banking sector as finance is one of the anti-corruption focus areas while Hong Kong is a well-known global financial hub", Chan added.

The GlobE network was launched in June 2021 as a platform that aims to ensure that the parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption can more effectively combat corruption.