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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL-21st October 1970.
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affairs of their clients which is relevant to an inquiry under this Bill. As a general rule, what a legal adviser, in his professional capacity, learns from his client is privileged from disclosure, because of the need for full and unreserved dealings between client and lawyer.
22. Although this privilege will not protect from disclosure communications made in furtherance of any crime, whether the legal adviser was a party to, or ignorant of, the illegal object, its protection is generally displaced only by definite evidence of illegality adduced in judicial proceedings. Consequently, the position of legal advisers in possession of privileged information which may be required for the purpose of the investigation of an alleged offence under this Bill will be regulated by clause 15, which preserves the general privilege, save for certain limited exceptions expressly dealt with in the clause.
23. In the absence of such a clause, persons might evade discovery by getting a solicitor to deal with the proceeds of corrupt transactions, relying on the rule against disclosure of privileged information. The clause is not, however, intended as a means of finding out what instructions an accused has given to his legal advisers for the purpose of obtaining legal advice or any judicial proceedings begun or in contemplation, and this is expressly so provided in the clause.
24. Clauses 16 and 17 regulate the entry and search of premises by persons conducting investigations, the former clause being concerned with the premises of public bodies and the latter with other premises. Lawyers' offices are not liable to entry and search under these provisions except if the lawyer or his clerk or servant is the subject of the investigation.
25. Clause 18 will empower a magistrate to require any person who, in the course of an investigation, is about to leave the Colony, to furnish bail or to commit him to prison, until he does so, for up to 28 days. This provision is intended to prevent suspects from escaping from the Colony as soon as investiga- tions start. An appeal will lie from the magistrate's decision.
Evidence (Part IV).
26. By clause 19 it will not be a defence to show that the giving or accepting of an advantage is customary in Hong Kong in the particular profession, trade, vocation or calling concerned.
27. Although, as indicated in paragraph 20, it will not be an offence for the suspect himself to refuse to give a statement or make a declaration when called upon to do so by notice under
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