2025-3-26

The Hong Kong ICAC is receiving high-level delegations from anti-corruption agencies of two Belt and Road countries, Sri Lanka and Zambia, who are in Hong Kong from Monday (March 24) for a five-day study visit programme. The ICAC shares with the delegates Hong Kong’s effective anti-graft strategies and its experience in combating corruption, systemic prevention and entrenching a probity culture to strengthen training collaboration.

ICAC Commissioner Woo Ying-ming and directorate officers of the Commission held bilateral meetings with high-level anti-corruption officials of the two countries, respectively meeting with the four-member delegation led by Kapugamage Bernard Rajapakse, Commissioner of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), Sri Lanka; and the delegation of seven led by Monica Chipanta-Mwansa, Deputy Director General of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Zambia.

At the bilateral meeting with the CIABOC of Sri Lanka, Woo shared ICAC’s three-pronged strategy of fighting corruption through law enforcement, corruption prevention and education, and introduced its newly revamped publicity approach which aimed to better enlist public support. He also remarked that the support of citizens and their willingness to report corruption were one of the key success factors for Hong Kong’s battle against corruption.

Kapugamage Bernard Rajapakse, Commissioner of the CIABOC, Sri Lanka, thanked the ICAC for arranging the programme. He hoped that Hong Kong’s successful graft-fighting experience would be an inspiration for refining Sri Lanka’s strategy and capability in combating corruption.

Ricky Yau Shu-chun, Deputy Commissioner and Head of Operations of the ICAC, noted at another bilateral meeting with the ACC of Zambia that the ICAC’s steadfast determination to fight corruption had transformed Hong Kong into one of the cleanest international cities in the world. Over the years, annual opinion surveys of the Commission showed that Hong Kong citizens continued to demonstrate a “zero tolerance” to corruption, indicating a deeply rooted culture of integrity in the society of Hong Kong.

Recognising the changes that anti-corruption initiatives would bring to a society, Monica Chipanta-Mwansa, Deputy Director General of the ACC, proposed the two agencies to strengthen graft-fighting collaboration and exchanges, including inviting officers of the Hong Kong International Academy Against Corruption (HKIAAC) to conduct training courses in Zambia.

During the five-day programme, ICAC officers shared with the two delegations their experiences in corruption investigation, systematic prevention and integrity building. The delegates also toured various facilities in the ICAC building and visited a Regional Office of the Commission to learn about its probity education in the community. They also took the opportunity to visit the HKIAAC established by the ICAC early last year to learn more about the diversified professional programmes provided by the HKIAAC and their contribution to the global anti-corruption cause. The delegation also called on the Department of Justice to strengthen their understanding of Hong Kong’s robust legal system and the importance of the rule of law in anti-corruption work.

The CIABOC delegation also seized the opportunity to meet with members of the ICAC’s Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations to get a better grasp of ICAC’s strategy to enlist public support and educate them about the evils of corruption.

While both the CIABOC and the ACC are members of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA), the two delegations also called on the IAACA Secretariat Office to gain insights on its work.