The number of corruption reports concerning the private sector from January to September fell 9 percent from a year earlier to 1,463, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the powerful anti-graft body in Hong Kong said Saturday.

Among the entire reports, 40 percent was related to building management sectors and other grafts reports came from industries of finance and insurance, catering and entertainment, construction and transport, according to the latest issue of ICAC Post on the commission's website.

ICAC Director of Investigation Francis Lee said globalization and rapid advances in information technology have made private sector cases increasingly sophisticated as the number of corruption reports involving the private sector accounted for 59 percent of the 2,461 cases received in the first nine months of 2006.

"To enhance our investigative edge, we have further strengthened the capability of our Financial Investigation and Computer Forensics Sections in handling complex cases," Lee said.

The commission probed 7,789 financial transactions involving 5. 1 billion HK dollars (655 million U.S. dollars) from January to September, and conducted 237 computer data analyses.

In recent years, corruption reports concerning the private sector have recorded a 6-percent drop, from 2,403 in 2002 to 2,247 last year.

Hong Kong is one of the world's least corrupt places due to the efficient and transparent efforts by ICAC, which strives to maintain a level playing field for businesses through a double- barrel strategy in vigorously fighting corruption in both the public and private sectors.

Source: Xinhua