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vigorously as ever. Mr Davies proffers no evidence to support his claim that corruption continues undiminished beyond an assertion that "everyone who lives in Hong Kong, who is not unforgivably remote from reality, knows that this is so".
3. The Governor has, of course, never said that corruption has been eliminated. But he does claim, on the authority of an assurance from the ICAC Commissioner himself, that the major corruption syndicates within the public service have been identified and that action has been initiated against the most important of those responsible. Also, the terms of the amnesty specifically allow him to authorize action in any really serious cases which may come to light in future. It is, of course, easy popular to be righteous and declare that no compromise at all should be made on corruption. But there is some force in the Governor's argument (even though it is partly rationalization of a policy forced on him by circumstances) that the time was in any case approaching when it would be best to turn over a new leaf and forget about actions that were committed in a previous era under different conditions.
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4. Mr Davies also claims to have found evidence of a "shame ful package deal" reached on 5 November including, not only the amnesty, but also an agreement to "soft pedal cases against the Police". To support this he quotes the fact that the Attorney-General has only felt able to bring charges against one man in connection with the attack by police demonstrators on the ICAC headquarters on 28 October (although the Police themselves are taking disciplinary action against a further eleven) and also the fact that the Attorney-General has refused to allow a public inquiry into the death last July of a young man believed to have been giving evidence against corrupt police officers. Mr Davies points to the fact that the Attorney-General is a Civil Servant subject to the Governor's authority and asserts that "the majority of people in Hong Kong do not believe that he took his decisions freely".
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