葉錫恩
(MRS.) E. ELLIOTT.
TEL. 8-422414
OUR
REF:
YOUR REF:
-2-
K. T. I. L. 683, Kung Lok Road,
Kwun Tong, KOWLOON.
could no longer be gulled, the Police then said they had made a mistake and a report had been made. Several men were then arrested.
I was afraid that the men arrested might not be the men I had seen taking money, so I wrote to Mr. Godber offering to go to court to identify the accused. He did not reply. I do not know to this day whether the men arrested were those involved in the racket.
In spite of the fact th,t Godber had obviously taken no action on my report, ne action was taken against him, and he was in fact pranoted. I appealed later to the Governor, but received no reply. The mini-bus racket later continued in another form, and again I was able to get the facts from drivers, and again exposed it, in 1972.
If Mr. Godber was not involved in this racket, he must be a most inefficient policeman yet the fact is that Mr. Godber was a smart peliceman, if he had used his talents to keep law and order instead
f t line his packets.
When you say that someone must come out and say he paid money to Godber before corruption can be proved, that means we will always have a corruption problem in Hong Kong, as, according to Sir Alistair Blair-Kerr (and I agree with him), the racket runs like a triangle, with money passing from the bread base to the top, and only the few next to Godber would know when money was passed to him pesonally. To betray him would be to betray themselves.
You always say that Hong Kong should not be granted democracy because it is different from Britain. Of course I do not agree that this difference should deny democracy. However, why should the difference be observed in granting rights, yet it is denied in dealing with crime. If Hong Kong is different, perhaps we need different laws on corruption. To keep Gadber in Britain means, as far as we Hong Kong people are Concerned, to be partners in corruption by protecting the known corrupt.
I understand that this letter will be passed on to the Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong. I consider it to be a waste of time to do that. Several years age when I uncovered a case of corruption in the Public Works Department in Hong Kong, the then Solicitor-General, who is now the Colonial Secretary, told me that "that's how things are in Hong Kong" and no action was taken against the man I reported. I have said, it would be a waste of time.
So,
as
May I add that nothing less than a Royal Commission of Enquiry will suffice, as the Hong Kong people have no confidence in Government officials here (except in the Governor himself). To deny this is to propagate the corrupt system.
Yours faithfully,
E. Chiste.