香港政府發展局局長陳茂波就其家族在新界東北發展區囤積農地坐收逾千萬元賠償,懷疑涉及利益輸送事件成為報紙頭版新聞。近年頻頻有政府官員濫用公帑,貪污,利益輸送等事件高調暴光,令公眾對政府人員道德操守甚為關注。或許香港政府應該效法美國國防部的做法,每年發表一份Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure (道德操守失格百科全書),給官員作為借鑒,不要以身試法。
雖然美國國防部出版的Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure (道德操守失格百科全書)是給聯邦顧員作指引之用,但並不是將所有法例列出,而是以敘事形式,短短一百幾十字精簡到位的寫出每一宗聯邦顧員涉違規的故事,其觸犯之法例及後果。當中涉及的事件並不是虛構的劇情但卻有如電影情節般引人入勝,令人歎為觀止。以下是其中一位前聯邦普通服務局計劃總監與家人違反利益衝突規條而一家入獄的事件:
One Happy Family Spends Time Together in Jail
A former programs director for the General Services Administration admitted to using his position at Fort Monmouth to award payments from the government to himself and his family. The former employee did this by awarding projects to two contractors who in turn hired the employee’s personal business enterprise and his daughter as subcontractors. Over the course of three years, they received over $800,000 in fees from the government; the only catch, neither the employee’s personal business nor his daughter actually performed any services for the government at all. Aside from the obvious fraud to which the former employee, his wife, and his daughter pled guilty, federal law also prohibits federal employees from making decisions concerning matters in which they or their family members have a personal financial interest. Even if the former GSA employee and his daughter had actually rendered the services that they billed for, the former employee would still have been in violation of federal law by awarding the projects to the contractors in the first place because his own financial interests were involved. The former GSA employee and his family were ordered to pay over $800,000 in restitution, and they each received prison sentences ranging from 12 to 46 months.
金錢,毒品,性都是在Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure (道德操守失格百科全書)的故事中重覆出現最多的主題。最令我覺得驚奇的是通常犯案的人都會出盡八寶來掩飾罪行,比較誇張的例子有一個犯了通姦罪的軍人竟然捏造自己已經死去來逃避責任。不過這些故事旨在教訓在職官員一個顯淺的道理,『天網恢恢,疏而不漏』。做任何決定之前,三思而後行,不然,做錯事逃不了。
Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure (道德操守失格百科全書)沒有正式出版在市面上出售,只是一個文字檔存在美國國防部網站,如果你有興趣,可以到美國國防部網站的Ethics Resource Library下載。
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