Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1
Telephone 01-
Your reference
HE Sir Murray MacLehose KCMG KCVO MBE
Our reference
HKK 14/1
HONG KONG
Date
3 July 1975
137
1.
Dear Murray,
(II) (x6)
The Department was in correspondence with the Colonial Secretariat earlier this year on behalf of the Royal Commission on Standards of Conduct in Public Life, who were seeking background material on your Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and on the special features of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. On 1 April Gerry Higginson sent David Timms a dossier of relevant papers; passed this on to the Royal Commission, who were most grateful.
2.
we
The Secretary of the Commission has now written to us again to say that one of its members, Sir Philip Allen, will be visiting Australia later in the year in his capacity as a Member of another Royal Commission (on Civil Liability and Compensation for Fersonal Injury) and will be passing through Hong Kong on his way out on 11-12 September. While he is in Hong Kong, Sir Philip would like if possible to call on one or two people for a short discussion on the possible relevance of Hong Kong experience to dealing with corruption in the UK. I understand that the Royal Commission on Standards of Conduct is already of the opinion that the British and Hong Kong situations are not strictly comparable; but Sir Philip would like an opportunity to substantiate this view.
3.
Sir Philip, who was, you will remember, Permanent Secretary of the Home Office for many years, hopes that it may be possible to complete any meetings in Hong Kong during the morning of 12 September, leaving him free for shopping and sightseeing in the afternoon. He is willing to accept our suggestions on whom he should see; but I am sure he would particularly appreciate a short meeting with yourself as well as a probably rather longer discussion with Jack Cater. If there was time, it might also be worth considering possible meetings with Geoffrey Briggs or John Hobley; and a further possibility might be for Sir Philip to call on Sir Alastair Blair-Kerr, if he was still in Hong Kong and his commitments to the Commission of Inquiry into the Telephone Company permit.
Yours ear
havenmee
PL O'Keeffe,
W
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept.