TNAG-0198-FCO40-234-Prevention-of-bribery-bill-1969 — Page 43

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CONFIDENTIAL

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VISIT OF DENUTY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STAT?

(BIR LĖŠLIK MONSON)

TO HONG KONG. OCTOBER, 1969

CORFULTION

Note No. 84

RECEIVED IN

REGISTRY No.51

- 8 OCT 1969

AKK1438

This Note is in amplification of Note No. 8. Paragraph 3 of that Note stated that in the course of their discussions with the Attorney General, Hong Kong, on the subject of the Hong Kong draft anti-bribery Bill, our Legal Advisers had raised certain queries, some of which were of a fundamental

nature.

2.

The following are the more important of the queries raised by our Legal Advisers: -

(a)

Clause 3

This Clause reads as follows! —

"Any public servant who, without lawful authority

or reasonable excuse, solicits or accepts any

advantage, whether for himself or any other public servant, shall be guilty of an offence,'

Its terms are so wide that in every case of an officer accepting a gift in circumstances which contravene Colonial Regulation 51 (which prohibits public officers from receiving valuable presents other than the ordinary gifts of personal friends) there should be a prosecution. This is because of the practice which has been laid down over many years that when an offence committed

by an officer is criminal in its nature, it should be referred to a criminal court for trial and should not be disposed of by disciplinary proceedings. It has accordingly been suggested to the Attorney General, Hong Kong, that the Clause should be broken

down into two separate clauses. One of these would deal with the relatively minor offence of accepting a present in circumstances where corruption may not necessarily be involved; and the other would deal with cases involving corruption. This course would also enable the maximum penalties to be varied in relation to

/ the ...

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