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CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1
J Cater Esq CBE
Commissioner Against Corruption
HONG KONG
LAST
REF.
Telephone 01-
Your reference
Our reference
Date
6 February 1974
Dear Jack,
MR A ELLIS
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When you were here in the autumn you talked to Mr Royle about Mr Ellis's allegations of corruption in relation to the termina- tion of his own probationary appointment in 1963. I believe that you then informally agreed that, when the Commission was in operation, you would investigate the corruption aspects of Mr Ellis's case and would let us have a report. Mr Royle understood, however, that in doing so you were going outside your brief. He therefore asked us not to write to the Colonial Secretariat about this for the time being.
Mr Royle subsequently saw Mr Ellis and told him that, as his MP, he was prepared to put his case to the Commission and ask for an investigation. He subsequently confirmed this in writing. I enclose a copy of his letter of 6 December.
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Mr Ellis, who is nothing if not persistent, has now returned to the charge with Mr Blaker asking for the administrative aspects of his case to be re-examined as well as the possible corruption implica- tions. But, apart from the allegations of corruption, there is really nothing to his case, since there is no doubt that the Hong Kong Government were legally within their right in terminating his probationary appointment as they did. Ellis himself has concentrated, most recently in a long talk with the Overseas Police Adviser, on the allegation that the evidence on which the Hong Kong Government took this decision was distorted by corruption. We have therefore had to advise Mr Blaker to reply urging Ellis to await the results of your investigations.
The purpose of this letter is to confirm in writing what we believe you agreed with Mr Royle (who has, as you know, now left the Office), and also to take up the specific point about letting the Governor know what is happening. As you know, he was unhappy about the proposal to refer Ellis's case to your Commission, since he feared that it was very unlikely that anything would turn up at this distance in time, and was concerned lest the Commission's failure to support Ellis's account of his alleged wrongs might merely become a public stick with which to beat the Commission. Since Ellis already has a letter from Mr Royle, it is very possible that he may make it public and it would
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CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL
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