TNAG-0408-FCO40-454-Allegations-of-bribery-and-corruption-in-the-Hong-Kong-polic-1973 — Page 17

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

CONFIDENTIAL

Equally obviously you will not wish, in the interests

of pursuing the corrupt few, to remove safeguards

on which honest members of the public service have

come to rely. We agreed with the Governor when he

was here that, for both purposes, there was advantage

in some formal procedures where these were possible. With these thoughts in mind we think (your paragraph 8) that it would be a mistake so to alter regulations

62 and 59 that you could dispose of an officer under

the latter, simply on the basis of a record of a

criminal case in which he had been acquitted. It

would be too easy for a disgruntled person to claim

that, having been acquitted, he had been bundled out

without any further investigation and with no

opportunity to make representations on his own

behalf. Such a complaint would not be easy to deal

with. In any case, provided that the procedures

under regulation 59 are as simple as we are now

thinking they can be, there seems no reason why you

cannot go through those procedures very quickly after

an acquittal.

6.

We agree, with minor qualifications, to the

second half of your paragraph 8, and offer the

attached draft of an amendment for your consideration

The intention is that evidence specifically disbelieved

by the court would have to be left on one side, while

facts inconsistent with the facts found by the court

would have to be supported by new evidence. This is

intended to get round the Blair-Kerr

accusations of imprecision.

Report's

17.

*

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

Comments

Approved members can add comments, bookmarks, and private notes.

No comments yet.

Private Research Note

Private notes are available after approval.