ربية
CAL-
ва
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
London SW1 2AH
RECEIVE
GISTRY
30 April 1991
3.APR
C INDEX
Mr Kevin Cahill BA MBOS
CISTRY Action Taken
121 Clare Court
Judd Street
LONDON WC1H 9QR
Dear shr. Cahill,
ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION IN THE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
As the Deputy Under Secretary for Asia and the Americas I am replying to your letter of 30 March 1991 addressed to
Sir Arthur Watts forwarding 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 papers and, particularly, the document described in your Affirmation as "Exhibit 1", a telegram from Hong Kong to the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, do not afford the slightest support to your
allegation of corrupt action.
I very much regret that you have so readily impugned 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: