Hong Kong anti-corruption agency vows to quash bribery of imported workers
The chief of Hong Kong's graft buster has vowed to crack down on bribery cases involving the city's imported workers amid a rising trend, but stressed there was no systemic risk of corruption among new arrivals.
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Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Danny Woo Ying-ming said on Thursday that investigators had held talks in imported labourers' dormitories to inform them of anti-corruption laws and practices since the government's relaxation of hiring rules two years ago.
'There had been cases where some [workers] admitted to our investigators that they had to pay bribes to land a job. We have arrested and charged relevant persons promptly,' Woo said.
Hong Kong relaxed its hiring rules for overseas labourers in 2023, with 75,000 imported workers arriving in the city over the past two years. Among them included at least 20,000 in the catering industry and 9,000 construction workers.
The agency did not provide a total of corruption-related complaints involving imported labourers.
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One of the major operations last year included the arrest of two leaders of a subcontractor who allegedly collected over HK$6 million (US$771,636) of bribes from 58 imported workers on the airport's third-runway project.
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