The new section, which may be viewed by clicking here, contains details of individuals “who are the subject of arrest warrants”, or who the Securities & Futures Commission (SFC) believes “have important information that may assist in other enforcement inquiries in connection with its enforcement inquiries”.
The new website section, which is called “Have You Seen These People?”, currently features a total of seven photographs of individuals, three of whom are described as being subject to arrest warrants, and four of whom are being sought as part of an SFC enquiry.
Mark Steward, the SFC’s executive director of enforcement , said that locating and speaking to people who have relevant information was “an important part of our investigation work”, and that he hoped the public would enable the SFC to “help us find people we have been unable to find using traditional methods”.
“With the support of the public, I am sure we will be able to enforce Hong Kong’s securities laws more effectively, for the benefit of the community,” Steward added.
All information provided to the SFC will be treated as confidential and will be updated on a regularly basis, the SFC said. Once a person is located, his or her listing will be removed from the site.
The SFC pages are similar in layout to those on Britain’s Crimestoppers website, though much less extensive and elaborate.
107,000 arrests since ’88
Since Crimestoppers began operating in 1988 in the UK as a phone line to receive anonymous tip-offs, it has received more than 1.2m calls, containing information leading to 107,000 arrests, including 800 on murder charges; £115m worth of stolen property being recovered, and drugs with a street value of more than £210m being seized, according to the organisation, which cites its own data.
During the six years since its website was launched in November 2005, more than 1,224 suspects have been arrested, of which 21% were eventually charged with a crime, the Crimestoppers data shows.
Earlier this month the website unveiled its annual list of the 10 "most wanted" individuals currently being sought by British authorities in Spain, the southern Costa del Sol region of which is sometimes dubbed the Costa del Crime because of the number of British criminals believed to be in hiding there.
Known as Operation Captura, this campaign was first launched in 2006 and has thus far has seen 47 of the total of 65 suspects named "arrested and brought to justice,” Crimestoppers says.
