TNAG-0410-FCO40-456-Allegations-of-bribery-and-corruption-in-the-Hong-Kong-polic-1973 — Page 108

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CONFIDENTIAL

If no steps are taken to remedy the situation before

the Prime Minister's visit to Hong Kong in January he

will face questioning on this point.

I

8. In this situation we have several options. We

could decide that the application of the double

criminality rule to the dependent territories is

illogical and abandon it altogether. This could create

difficulty in this country, if fugitive offenders were

sent back to face trial for offences which public

opinion here does not recognise. But this possibility

of embarrassment is almost totally theoretical.

understand that your department have only been able to

find one such case of return to a dependent territory

between 1881 and 1967. Godber himself only came here

because his lawyers advised him of the existence of the

double criminality rule. It is the existence of the

rule that creates embarrassment, not its abandonment.

9. Another possibility would be to examine the list

of dependent territory legislation to which the rule

at present applies and agree upon a schedule of

returnable offences. We have asked the Governors of

the dependent territories to examine their laws and

advise us on this. The list is not likely to be large,

at least if we retain, as I believe we should, the

existing limitation to offences punishable with 12

months imprisonment. This approach would, however,

tend to highlight Section 10 of the Hong Kong Prevention

of Bribery Ordinance, which the Law Officers would not

welcome.

/10.