Hong Kong accountability system probes will cover ‘all civil servants’: John Lee

Permanent secretaries of government bureaus will not escape scrutiny even though a proposed new accountability system is targeting department heads, as investigations under the mechanism will cover “all civil servants”, Hong Kong’s leader has said.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu offered more clarity on Thursday on the new “Heads of Department Accountability System”, which he announced in his annual policy blueprint the previous day and will penalise underperforming senior civil servants and address internal deficiencies.

Under a proposed two-tier investigation system, a department head will be responsible for handling an investigation to identify deficiencies and take disciplinary action against underperforming officers in general cases.

The Public Service Commission, a statutory body advising on public service matters, will gain the power to conduct independent investigations into serious cases, or those that are widespread, repetitive and systematic, or when the department head concerned is said to be implicated in the problem as well.

At a question and answer session on Thursday, lawmaker Nixie Lam Lam, chairwoman of the legislature’s public service panel, asked Lee whether the most senior level of civil servants – permanent secretaries – would be covered by the proposed system.

She expressed concern that there would be loopholes if the new system did not apply to permanent secretaries.