The ICAC wrote in its annual review published Monday that there was an across-the-board decline in the number of corruption complaints concerning the government sector, public bodies and private sector, in particular in the latter, in 2022.

It noted that the civil service and public bodies in Hong Kong remain generally clean and honest.

“In 2022, corruption complaints involving government bureaux or departments decreased from 645 to 533, while pursuable complaints also dropped from 426 to 372 when compared to 2021.

“Corruption complaints concerning public bodies decreased from 137 to 121, and pursuable complaints also dropped from 98 to 77,” it said.

Meanwhile, the watchdog said corruption complaints concerning the private sector in 2022 declined by 1,482 to 1,181, with a corresponding 19 percent drop in pursuable complaints from 1,214 to 989 when compared to 2021.

It also noted that the three sectors which attracted the most complaints were Building Management, Construction Industry, and Finance and Insurance.

It added that 204 persons were prosecuted last year, with the person-based conviction rates being 80 percent.

The ICAC believed the decrease was attributable to dwindling economic activities caused by the fifth wave of the pandemic in early 2022, which was similar to the situation at the onset of the pandemic outbreak in 2020.

As for the city’s elections, the watchdog said it received 135 complaints regarding four elections, namely the 2021 Election Committee Subsector Ordinary Elections, the 2021 Legislative Council General Election, the 2022 Chief Executive Election and 2023 Rural Representative Election.

Of which, the 2021 Legislative Council General Election has seen the most complaints at 96.

“In 2022, 11 persons were prosecuted for election offenses and 12 persons convicted for breaches of election offenses. Twenty-two persons were given warnings for minor breaches of electoral offenses which mainly related to election expenses,” the ICAC wrote.