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be a criminal offence for a public servant
to maintain a standard of living not
commensurate with, or to possess property
disproportionate to, his official emoluments.
It would be for the prosecution to prove
that the accused maintained such a dis-
proportionate standard of living or
possessed such property: if this were done
the burden would be on the accused to show
to the Court that he had a satisfactory
explanation of how he came to live beyond
his official means or came by so much
property.
In order to meet criticism in Hong
Kong that the Clause, if not used with
care, could constitute an objectionable
intrusion into the private affairs of
public officers, no prosecution could be
instituted under this Clause without the
personal consent of the Attorney-General
(or Solicitor-General), Hong Kong, who
would have to give a prior opportunity to
the person concerned of making written
representations to him.
3.It is felt here that this Clause
violates the principle that a man shall
not be convicted of a criminal offence
unless a Court is satisfied beyond
reasonable doubt that he has committed
the offence a principle which is basic to our whole approach to Criminal Law and
*
insisted
ene on which we haveinstituted in all-
querseas territories for which
-are-
responsible (Though technically Clause
10 creates an offence separate and
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