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CONFIDENTIAL covering SECRET
Mr. Staget
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PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts
MR GODBER AND THE FUGITIVE OFFENDERS ACT
1.
n
Dinfriddy
PA
25/4
Lord Goronwy-Roberts may wish to see FCO telegram no. 386
which we sent last night to Hong Kong. We have not yet had any
reply from Hong Kong. Our sole source of information is therefore
Mr Hobley, the Attorney-General of Hong Kong, who is on leave in the
UK and had the news in a private letter from his Department in
Hong Kong.
2.
is the policeman who has recently been convicted
under Section 10 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and sentenced
to twelve months imprisonment. Leave to appeal to the Privy Council
was refused. It appears that he has therefore decided to talk and
to implicate Mr Godber in a normal bribery charge, which is a
returnable offence under the Fugitive Offenders Act.
3.
Assuming that this is true, the main risk is that Mr Godber
If he did so and went
might leave the UK before he is arrested.
to South America, it would probably put him finally beyond the
reach of the law. We have therefore thought it prudent to draw
Hong Kong's attention to the procedure for a provisional warrant
under the Fugitive Offenders Act which is a way of taking quick
action.
4.
Paragraph 6 of our telegram mentions that Mr Godber is
stoplisted in the UK. This is an additional defence against his
disappearance, though a weak one. The immigration officers have a
note of his passport and instructions to retain it and prevent him
from leaving, if he presents himself at any UK port or airport of
exit. The system is not infallible. He could for example evade it
by going to the Irish Republic. But it is the best that can be done
in the absence of a warrant of arrest.
CONFIDENTIAL
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