EXTRACT FROM "MIDWEEK'
16.1.75:
-16-
KING:
There were statements like: You needn't worry about money here because once you' leave you'll be on double your wages anyway, if you decident go in on the racket", And you could make about two-
thousand over and above your salary, you could.
MANGOLD:
Two-thousand Hong Kong dollars.
KING:
Yes, two-thousand Hong Kong dollars. You wouldn't have to do anything they said. All you have to do is just take part and say nothing and you will get your share. That was one statement I heard.
MANGOLD:
KING:
MANGOLD:
From a police officer.
From a police officer.
The impression you got was that if you didn't get on the bus, as they say, if you didn't become corrupt you wouldn't make it.
KING:
Certainly this was said. This was said very strongly. You've got to remember that I'd been interested in a police career since the age of about ten. When I joined at nineteen I committed myself wholeheartedly to that job. I took my exams. I tried to make a contribution in my own way and that when I arrived in Hong Kong naturally I came with an open mind, I'd wanted to make the same kind of contribution in the best way that I was able. However, after five short weeks, I tendered my resignation because I just lid not feel that I could serve within this kind of framework, not just because there was corruption but because I found that authority's attitude to real problems, which after all had been validated, was one of almost total indifference.
MANGOLD:
King was forbidden by his police superiors to talk to us but he had already made up his mind and last night he left the Royal Hong Police Force and the Colony for ever.
KING:
If all the things I have heard about corruption are in fact true then all I can say is that I personally am ashamed to be British. I am sorry and sad to see the British flag flying here.
My advice to a potential recruit would be if he is willing to come to terms with his conscience and he wants to make money,
to go because they are coining it still. If he wishes to be a straight copper, do his job, don't bother. Stay in Chiswick. Stay in Chiswick.
MANGOLD:
(BACKGROUND)
King got out with nothing but his conscience.
left with
a fortune. The bungalow with a high Mediterranean view is being built to his personal specifications. The price £23,000 cash. (BACKGROUND)
Even as he was fighting to stay out of prison in Hong Kong,
managed to
stay firmly on his feet. In the Colony's corrupt circle, you were never short of a friend in need.
BBH