Timothy Tong Hin-ming () born 12 July 1949, is a former

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

for the

Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong was established by Governor Sir Murray MacLehose on 15 February 1974, when Hong Kong was under British rule. Its main aim was to clean up endemic corruption in the many departme ...

. Prior to that, he was

Commissioner of Customs and Excise The Commissioner of Customs and Excise () is the head of the Customs and Excise Department, which is responsible for monitoring the movement of goods into and out of Hong Kong, customs and excise, duties and investigation of pirated products. ...

for the Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong. Tong studied at

Diocesan Boys' School The Diocesan Boys' School (DBS) is a day and boarding Anglican boys' school in Hong Kong, located at 131 Argyle Street, Hong Kong, Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon near Mong Kok East station. The school's mission is "to provide a liberal educat ...

for secondary education, and graduated from

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

. He joined the

Government of Hong Kong The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the executive authorities of Hong Kong SAR. It was formed on 1 July 1997 in accordance with the Sino-Br ...

in November 1972 and served as an officer in the Executive Department and Trade and Industry Department. In April 1992, he joined the political branch of the government. In April 2005, he received a promotion into a senior position in

Home Affairs Department The Home Affairs Department is an executive agency in the government of Hong Kong responsible for internal affairs of the territory. It reports to the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, headed by the Secretary for Home Affairs. Purpose The Dep ...

and was reassigned in many executive position within the government departments. In January 1999, he served as Undersecretary for Security in Security Bureau of Hong Kong. In September 2003, Tong was appointed as

for the Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong. On 1 July 2007, he was appointed as Commissioner, Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Timothy Tong was serving under

Regina Ip Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee (; ' Lau; born 24 August 1950) is a Chinese politician. She is currently the Convenor of the Executive Council (ExCo) and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), as well as the founder and current chair ...

when he was the Undersecretary for Security in the Security Bureau of Hong Kong, and together they helped advocating the passage of

Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 () is an article in the Hong Kong Basic Law, Basic Law, the organic law, constitution of Hong Kong. It states that Hong Kong "shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subvers ...

. Tong's role in lobbying public support on the bill led to criticism on his violation of political neutrality. Protests against this bill resulted in a massive demonstration on 1 July 2003. In the aftermath, two Executive Committee members resigned and the bill was withdrawn after it became clear that it would not get the necessary support from the Legislative Council for it to be passed. The bill was then shelved indefinitely. In 2013, Tong became the subject of a special inquiry launched by Hong Kong's Legislative Council after serious allegations surfaced regarding gifts and other expense claims he made during his ICAC tenure.

References

1949 births Living people Government officials of Hong Kong Hong Kong civil servants Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Hong Kong politicians {{law-enforcement-bio-stub