4.
Faced with this situation the Governor decided that he had no alternative but to agree to an amnesty for all cases of corruption that may have been committed prior to 1 January 1977, except those cases that were already under investigation, or in which the suspects were out of the country. Particularly heinous cases were also excluded from the amnesty.
5. Not surprisingly, this amnesty was much criticized both in Hong Kong and in this country. However, when the Governor made it plain that he was not prepared to extend the amnesty any further and that the fight against current cases of corruption continued undiminished, he received massive public support.
6. The recently announced decisions to prosecute 26 police and customs officers in connection with the Yau Ma Tei corruption case represent the last major group of cases left over from those excluded from the amnesty. Altogether well over 100 people were suspected of involvement in this case. However, it would have been impracticable to prosecute so many. The Attorney-General, therefore, decided to bring charges against only the 26 whom he judged to be most culpable. At the same time as the decision to bring charges was announced, the Hong Kong Government revealed that 119 other police officers and customs officers were to be compulsorily retired under Colonial Regulation 55. Under this Regulation the Secretary of State may require any public official in a dependent territory to retire without having to give any reasons the decision. The Secretary of State agreed to the use of this procedure in these cases because of the need to take decisive action to deal with the aftermath of the amnesty. He agreed only after a careful consideration of each individual case had established that there was sufficient evidence of involvement in corruption for it not to be in the public interest for the officer concerned to remain
in the public service.
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