TNAG-0410-FCO40-456-Allegations-of-bribery-and-corruption-in-the-Hong-Kong-polic-1973 — Page 107

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confer immunity on fugitive offenders who have

contravened laws introduced with our approval and

in the interests of good government of a territory

for which we are responsible.

7. The Godber case has also opened up the prospect

of substantial political embarrassment in our

relations with Hong Kong and perhaps other dependent

territories. Faced with a serious corruption problem,

the Hong Kong Government have had, with our agreement,

to take exceptional measures against those whose

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tinase whom corruption is not in doubt, but, against whom it is

wher

difficult for obvious reasons to produce hard evidence of corruption. There is a political problem of public

The Hong Kong Government have set up a

confidence.

new and independent Anti-Corruption Commission. But

so long as senior European officers are able to escape

its operations and to live unmolested in the UK, public

confidence in Hong Kong in the Commission, the Hong

Kong Government and HMG will be diminished. If they

believe that, in effect, the European administration

are shielding their own people, the Chinese population

will not come forward to give the evidence of corruption

which should eventually make the special legislation

unnecessary. Moreover, the fact that the law which

impedes Godber's return is a UK one, increases, however

unreasonably, the general political tension between

Hong Kong and the UK which was the subject of Sir Alec's

minute. If, as is very possible, another Hong Kong

Government officer evades prosecution and settles in

Britain, the effect on our relations will be serious.

/If no

(17865) Dd.145178 400m 5/73 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863

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