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confer immunity on fugitive offenders who have
contravened laws introduced with our approval and
in the interests of good government of a territory
for which we are responsible.
7. The Godber case has also opened up the prospect
of substantial political embarrassment in our
relations with Hong Kong and perhaps other dependent
territories. Faced with a serious corruption problem,
the Hong Kong Government have had, with our agreement,
to take exceptional measures against those whose
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tinase whom corruption is not in doubt, but, against whom it is
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difficult for obvious reasons to produce hard evidence of corruption. There is a political problem of public
The Hong Kong Government have set up a
confidence.
new and independent Anti-Corruption Commission. But
so long as senior European officers are able to escape
its operations and to live unmolested in the UK, public
confidence in Hong Kong in the Commission, the Hong
Kong Government and HMG will be diminished. If they
believe that, in effect, the European administration
are shielding their own people, the Chinese population
will not come forward to give the evidence of corruption
which should eventually make the special legislation
unnecessary. Moreover, the fact that the law which
impedes Godber's return is a UK one, increases, however
unreasonably, the general political tension between
Hong Kong and the UK which was the subject of Sir Alec's
minute. If, as is very possible, another Hong Kong
Government officer evades prosecution and settles in
Britain, the effect on our relations will be serious.
/If no
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