HONG KONG - The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) introduced two new sets of best-practice checklists for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government bodies and grantee organizations to enhance integrity and accountability in the administration of government funding schemes, according to the ICAC's press release sent here on Thursday.

The checklists offer practical advice and procedural safeguards for all the parties concerned, including the funding committee members, secretariat staff of the controlling government bodies, as well as the grantee organizations, to commit to ethical practices in the allocation and use of the funds.

An ICAC spokesman said the administration of government funds has become one of ICAC's major concerns and work priorities, in view of the large amount of public money and interest involved.

The commission prosecuted 57 people in relation to improprieties and abuse of several major government funding schemes in the last five years, involving a total amount of nine million HK dollars (about 1.2 million U.S. dollars).