14.
. Mr Cortazzi
PS
CONFIDENTIAT COVERING SECRET
HONG KONG: CORRUPTION
Flag A-31. In his telegram no. 118 the Governor of Hong Kong drey
attention to the investigation into the so-called Yau Ma Tei syndicate of corrupt officers within the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. In Flag.BFCO telegram no. 99 the Secretary of State indicated that because of
the massive danger presented by the existence of corrupt syndicates within the Service, he was, exceptionally, prepared to consider sympathetically recommendations for the discharge of officers suspected of corruption in the Hong Kong Public Service, by the use of Colonial Regulation 55. By this regulation the pleasure of the Crown that an officer should no longer hold office may be signified by the Secretary of State and no special formalities are required, i,e there is no need for the grounds for discharge to be put to the officer in detail and there is no provision for him to rebut the grounds,
Flag C
Flag D
Flag E
tc
2... The Governor of Hong Kong has now submitted 14 case files to the FCO with a recommendation that the Secretary of State should signify, under CR55, that the officers should no longer hold office. These files are in respect of police or preventive service officers, all of whom are believed to have been involved in corruptly receiving payments in order to permit the continued existence of a heroin distribution network in the Yau Ma Tei police district of Hong Kong.
3.
Mr Thompson of my department has scrutinised each of these. files and has made recommendations to me. I have scrutinised each file myself and have considered that in 138 cases (List A attached), on the material in the files concerned, I am satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for suspecting that the officers concerned have been involved in corrupt 'activity for it not to be in the public interest for them to remain in the service of the Government of Hong Kong. The Departmental Legal Adviser, who has also scrutinised each of the files, concurs.
Overseas Police Adviser who is away
from London has seen random samples of these files and has agreed
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COVERING SECRET