CONFIDENTIAL
recommended that the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967
should be amended so as to enable Godber and other
offenders charged with criminal offences which
are not relevant offences under the Fugitive
Offenders Act to be extradited to Hong Kong to
stand trial.
3. We have told the Governor that we will look
again at the possibility of a change in the law on
general grounds which would not be retrospective
in form and therefore would not catch Godber.
Mr Royle is writing to his opposite number in the
Home Office asking to discuss this question.
4. Until this issue has been resolved with the
Home Office, we strongly recommend that the
Secretary of State should, at this stage, say no
more in Parliament than that the question is still
under examination.
5. The Governor was consulted about Mr Johnson's
question and the draft reply incorporates an
amendment by him, designed to make it clear that
the Hong Kong Government could not be open to the
charge that it had been inactive or indifferent in
the matter of the extradition of Godber. The
Governor has said that it would be helpful from
his point of view if the Secretary of State could
stress that he is aware of the strong feelings of
the Hong Kong Government that a means should be
found to bring Godber to justice, and of the
powerful and sustained pressure in Hong Kong for
the return of Godber. These points have been
incorporated into the Notes for Supplementaries.
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