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2CZC LIX779 160650 DX8630 YCX651 16-0640 YHN851 YY'TWX
1 350: PROHONGAID LONDON ELEVEN :
GIS 5/77 (ADD)
RECENTLY, THERE HAS BEEN A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF CRITICISM OF THE CROWN FOR USING PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME TO BE DESCRIBED AS +TAINTED WITNESSES+ IN PROVING CORRUPTION CASES -- IN OTHER WORDS, WITNESSES WHO HAVE THEMSELVES BEEN INVOLVED IN CORRUPTION. IT IS UNDERSTANDABLY DISTASTEFUL TO MANY TO HAVE TO USE SUCH PEOPLE AND SOMETIMES, IN SO DOING, TO GIVE THEM SOME DEGREE OF IMMUNITY. NEVERTHELESS, BECAUSE OF THE PECULIAR NATURE OF CORRUPTION, AND PARTICULARLY OF CORRUPTION SYNDICATES, DIRECT EVIDENCE IS MORE OFTEN THAN NOT ONLY OBTAINABLE FROM PARTICIPANTS IN THE CRIME.
THE COURTS ACCEPT THIS SITUATION AND, IN DISMISSING THE APPEAL , OF THOMPSON AND CUNNINGHAM, THE COURT OF APPEAL STATED THAT
JUDGES IN HONG KONG WERE FULLY AWARE OF THE NECESSITY FOR USING +TAINTED WITNESSES+ IN CORRUPTION CASES AND REFUSED, THEREFORE, TO GIVE ANY WEIGHT TO THE APPELLANTS' ARGUMENT THAT THE IMMUNITY GIVEN TO TWO WITNESSES (WHO WERE CO-CONSPIRATORS) WAS A STRONG INDUCEMENT TO GIVE UNTRUTHFUL EVIDENCE ALONG THE LINES THE CROWN WISHED TO HEAR.
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• ZCZC LTX782 160655 DX8681
YY TWX
YBX823 16-0642 YHN852
1355: PROHONGAID LONDON TWELVE :-
GIS 54/77 (ADD)
NOW SOME PEOPLE FEEL, AND PERHAPS YOU HEAR ING ME TODAY MAY THINK, THAT CORRUPTION OF THE MAGNITUDE WE HAVE IN HONG KONG COULD ONLY EXIST IF THERE WERE AN ALL-PERVASIVE, ALL-EMBRACING, ORGANISATION WITH A MASTER-MIND OR GROUP OF MASTERMINDS AT THE TOP. THIS IS A TEMPTING THEORY, BUT WE IN THE ICAC AT THIS MOMENT BELIEVE THAT THIS IS NOT THE CASE. WE BELIEVE, AS I HAVE ALREADY SAID, THAT THE REAL CORRUPTION, THE REAL ACTION, IS ORGANISED AT THE MIDDLE-MANAGEMENT LEVEL, AT THE LEVEL OF THE DETECTIVE STATION SERGEANT AND SOMETIMES THE INSPECTOR, OR THEIR EQUIVALENTS. I UNDERSTAND THAT IN SOME INSTANCES A DETECTIVE STATION SERGEANT MIGHT HAVE PAID AS MUCH AS $250,000 FOR A LUCRATIVE POSTING TO A DISTRICT WHICH HAS A REPUTATION FOR VICE -- A LARGISH AMOUNT, ONE WOULD THINK, BUT OBVIOUSLY A HIGHLY PROFITABLE INVESTMENT IN THAT HE CAN PROBABLY GET HIS MONEY BACK IN A MINIMUM OF TWO OR THREE MONTHS. THEN IT IS +PROFIT+ ALL THE WAY.
IT IS BIG BUSINESS, MAKE NO MISTAKE, VERY BIG BUSINESS : AND SOMETIMES IT HAS THE PROBLEMS OF LEGITMATE BIG BUSINESS TOO. WE KNOW OF ONE ORGANISATION WHERE THEY HAD A CASH FLOW'
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PROBLEM AND SU THE PAY-OFF WAS MADE IN HEROIN. HORRIFYING AND DISGUSTING, ISN'T IT?
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