PS/LPS
HICKR 382/5
4/12
13
HONG KONG : MP'S LETTER
Problem
A
&
1.
ct
No
1860 16/12 w/n
See HKK 382/2 1982
To reply to a letter from Mr Mark Wolfson MP to the Lord
Privy Seal.
Recommendation
2. That the Lord Privy Seal reply on the lines of the attached
draft.
Background and Argument
3.
Mr Wolfson wrote enclosing copies of two letters to him from
Mr Christopher Dawson, a retired senior Hong Kong police officer.
Mr Dawson is concerned about the corrupt image which the Royal
Hong Kong Police Force has in this country and the failure to
publicise that Force's own part in bringing corrupt senior officers
to book.
4. In the late 1960s and early 1970s corruption in the Royal
Hong Kong Police Force was widespread. In 1973, the Force arrested
a Chief Superintendent and a Superintendent, both Europeans, for
corruption. Mr Dawson was personally very much involved in these
The Chief Superintendent escaped from Hong Kong whilst on
bail and the outcry that followed led to a public inquiry into
corruption and subsequently to the establishment of the Independent
Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
arrests.
5. Mr Dawson maintains, with some justification, that little
credit has been given to the Police for these arrests and that the
general public does not know about the role the Force played in
bringing corruption into the open. He has been particularly
/annoyed