Bertrand Edouard Doger de Speville (, 16 June 1941 – 29 March 2020) was a Hong Kong government official who served as solicitor general and as the

commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption The Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption heads the body that is responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption in both the public and private realms in Hong Kong. The ICAC was created in 1974 to deal with the c ...

(ICAC).

Biography

Born in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, de Speville was raised in Salisbury (now called

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kno ...

. He moved to England in 1960 to study law at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, and was called to the bar in 1964. He spent 10 years as a barrister in private practice followed by three years in the United Kingdom legal service. At the urging of then- Attorney General

John Calvert Griffiths John Calvert Griffiths CMG KC SC was the Attorney General of Hong Kong from 1979 to 1983. Early life Griffiths was born in Persia, now Iran, on 16 January 1931. He is the son of Oswald Hardy Griffiths and Christina Flora Griffiths (née Li ...

, de Speville moved to Hong Kong and joined the civil service in January 1981 as a deputy principal crown counsel. In October 1985 he was promoted to principal crown counsel. On 10 July 1992, de Speville formally took up the post of solicitor general, succeeding

Frank Stock Frank Stock, GBS (; born 15 June 1945) is a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. He was until 2014 a Vice President of the Hong Kong Court of Appeal. Early life and education Born in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), S ...

. He had actually served in this role on an acting basis since 1991. He subsequently served as commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption from 22 February 1993 until 21 January 1996. After stepping down, de Speville returned to England and established de Speville and Associates, an anti-corruption consultancy, and advised various countries and agencies on strategies for combatting corruption. He was elected as a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

in 2007. He died at home in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

on 29 March 2020.

Books

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speville, Bertrand de 1941 births 2020 deaths Alumni of University College London Government officials of Hong Kong Hong Kong legal professionals People from Harare Solicitors General of Hong Kong