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CONFIDENTIAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
15 February 1974
FLT Graham-Harrison Esq CB
Deputy Under-Secretary of State
Home Office
Whitehall
SW 1
$3
Dear Grehan - Hamisin
Нашом
FUGITIVE OFFENCERS ACT: HONG KONG
1.
Since our meeting in November we have consulted the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary about the possibility of abolishing the double-criminality rule in the Act in its relation to Hong Kong. We explained that you and the Law Officers' Department were both opposed to any change. Some of the urgency was taken out of the question by the postponement of the Prime Minister's visit to Hong Kong.
2. Our Secretary of State has now decided that in view of your adverse opinion and of the current state of our relations with Hong Kong, Ministerial agreement to any change should not be pursued at the present time. We will be informing Hong Kong accordingly. The FCO still consider that the present rule is in some respects anomalous and could be undesirable in its effects. If circumstances change, for example if further Hong Kong officials seek refuge in the UK from prosecution under the Hong Kong Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, we may have to ask you to consider the question once again. But for the time being we see no alternative to leaving matters as they are.
Yous sucichy
MG de Winton Esq CBE MC
Law Officers' Department Attorney-General's Chambers Royal Courts of Justice WC 2
HFT Smith Esq CMG
Cabinet Office
Шића
(Duncan Watson)
RAR
Prik
1912
CONFIDENTIAL,