Mr Kevin Cahill BA MBCS
121 Clare Court
Judd Street
LONDON WC1H 9QR
ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION IN THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
Please refer to your letter of 30 March 1991 to which you attached a formal complaint of corruption in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Please note that we have consulted Sir Robin Butler about
the similar letter of 13 March 1991 which you sent to him. This
letter takes account of his views. I have also seen your letter of
28 January 1991 to Mrs Rita Fan which she passed to the Hong Kong authorities, who in turn passed it to us.
It will not surprise you to know that I absolutely reject your allegations that officials in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have acted corruptly in handling papers relating to the case of Lorrain Osman. We have looked at the documents enclosed with your letter carefully and have also examined our files. We conclude that the documents endorsed with your letter and, particularly, the document described in your Affirmation as "Exhibit 1", a telegram from Hong Kong to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, does not
afford the slightest support to your allegation of corrupt action.
I very much regret that you have so readily impunged the integrity of officials in this office primarily on the basis of this document. You will no doubt be aware that the Divisional Court considered this
and other documents on an application for discovery in the course of Mr Osman's fourth application for a writ of habeas corpus. In the Court's judgement of 20 June 1990, Lord Justice Leggat said:
"In my judgement, having carefully perused the documents