XN000022-1996-07-03 — Page 33

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Witness Protection Bill

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Security, Mr Peter Lai, in moving the second reading of the Witness Protection Bill in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Mr President,

I move the second reading of the Witness Protection Bill. The Bill seeks to provide a legislative framework for the existing Witness Protection Programmes, and to establish a system for the change of identity of high-risk witnesses.

The existing Witness Protection Programmes are operated by the Police and the ICAC to provide protection for high-risk witnesses. The key features of these Programmes include a professional threat assessment, a high level approving authority, agreements on the offer and termination of protection, relocation arrangements, and an appeal mechanism. Changing the identity of witnesses is not a feature in the existing Programmes. However, taking account of the recommendations of Justice Kempster's Commission of Inquiry into Witness Protection, we consider that changing identity, coupled with other protection measures such as relocation, is effective both in terms of physical protection, and especially in providing reassurance to high-risk witnesses. We have therefore undertaken to introduce legislation to facilitate the change of identity of witnesses and, at the same time, enhance the effectiveness of the existing Witness Protection Programmes by giving them legal backing.

The Witness Protection Bill gives legislative effect to the features of the existing Witness Protection Programmes, in particular, the requirement of witnesses to provide certain information to the approving authority, the assessment criteria for inclusion in the Programmes, the signing of a memorandum of understanding for admission into the Programmes, and the procedures for the termination of protection.

As regards the change of identity of witnesses, we propose that, on the personal recommendation of either the Commissioner of Police or the Commissioner, ICAC and with the Governor's approval, official documents pertaining to a protected witness will be issued under a new fictitious persona. Apart from providing clear statutory powers for officials to change the identity of witnesses, our proposed scheme is comprehensive in that it will not indicate any change of identity has taken place, and the identification documents of the witness's spouse and children can also be covered. This will provide greater reassurance to the protected witnesses. However, the protected witnesses will not be provided with any academic or professional qualifications, since it cannot be done on a fictitious basis when a person does not possess the requisite skills.