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2 1 JUN 1979
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Our reference
PEGIST
PGF/243/1
Date 19 June 1979
Dour Information others,
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
1.
The trial in Hong Kong of the Master of the "Huey Fong" and others for attempting to defraud the Hong Kong Government in connexion with the bringing of over 3,000 Vietnamese refugees opened on 7 June and is likely to last about six weeks. The testimony being given by prosecution witnesses reveals links between the Vietnamese Government and the syndicates organising a traffic in refugees. (The trial was mentioned in OID's Background Brief "Refugees from Indochina: International Action Urged" sent to you on 15 June).
We have consulted some Posts and, although Reuters have been reporting the trial, local Press coverage seems to be minimal.
2.
3. You may therefore wish to have the attached interim summary of the proceedings, recording the prosecution's opening case which illustrates the evidence available of the Vietnamese Government's complicity, to which you may have an opportunity to draw attention. The use of large freighters to carry refugees in fact belongs to an earlier phase of the refugee exodus and the Vietnamese Government is now more directly involved in the deportation of a large number of refugees by small boats.
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J O'Connor Howe
Overseas Information Department