XN000022-1996-10-18 — Page 5

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Governor: I don't want to say any more than the Secretary for the Civil Service has said in the Legislative Council and that he has said in response to questions elsewhere. The former Director of Immigration left public service for personal reasons. We have an excellent Director of Immigration in his place and I have full confidence in the integrity of our immigration system, our system of issuing visas and policing checks at our frontiers.

Question: Would you say that he was an excellent Director?

Governor: I would say that he worked for many years for the Hong Kong Government and I don't want to add to anything else that has been said about his departure from the public service.

Question: Mr Patten, will you allow your officials, government officials, to testify before the LegCo Select Committee once that is set up?

Governor: I think that we will, as ever, follow the customary procedures if there is any sort of investigation of any matter by the Legislative Council. But I just want to add that we have nothing to add to what has been said already.

I just want to underline once again one simple point. I am absolutely determined that there should be no reason to question the integrity of our Immigration Department or the integrity of any other part of our public service. When I talk to foreign governments about ease of travel for Hong Kong citizens after 1997, when I talk to them about issues like visa-free access, I want to be able to say with complete confidence that I believe that our system works, works well and works with the same integrity as the systems, doubtless, in their countries.

And when I spoke to the Italian Foreign Minister a couple of days ago about this issue I was able to speak to him with maximum confidence in the integrity of our system. In Hong Kong we will do everything and anything we ever have to do in order to maintain that integrity.

Question: Were you able to speak with the same confidence before Mr Leung left? Were you able to give the same confidence that the system was working well before the departure of Mr Leung?

Governor: At every meeting that I've had with representatives of other governments or the British Government to discuss these matters I have been able to talk about them with absolute confidence that our system in Hong Kong would be managed and run with the maximum integrity.