PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AL
Telephone 01-930-8440 Ext 118
296
(285)
245
251)
The Hon J W D Hobley
Attorney-General's Chambers
HONG KONG
My dear John
GODBER
1.
Your reference
Our reference
HKK 14/3
Date
27 November 1974
12.
ช
2/12
I Digwilly bea the P/A As
There are certain aspects of the recent correspondence about this case between the Hong Kong Government and this office that have troubled us and, as you are a valued friend and colleague who has been one of those concerned with them at the Hong Kong end, I hope you will not take it amiss if I write to you candidly about them.
2. The first thing that struck us was the response to our telegram No 903 of 21 October. I refer specifically to the second sentence of paragraph 5 of that telegram, and to the second sentence of paragraph 1 of your telegram No 1056 of 24 October.
3. Second, we also noted the tone of your telegram No 1064, and were astonished by its paragraph 7.
Third, we took note of your telegram No 1150 of 19 November.
(282)
4.
5.
As seen from here
2/12
(a) it would have been better had your Government adverted to the circumstances of 's willingness to give evidence when his affidavit was prepared;
(b) given that the affidavits made no disclosure of those circum-
stances, Penlington (as he has readily acknowledged) would have been better advised had he briefed French about them before the hearing of the extradition proceedings commenced on 7 October;
(c) we were entitled to expect your Government to take a more under- standing attitude to the confidentiality of our transactions with Scrivener than in fact your telegrams revealed;
(d) in particular, we deprecated the disclosure of the relevant
telegrams to Prendergast without the courtesy of consulting us first in view of what we had said. (He arrived in London in a high state of excitement induced by the sight of them which has been of assistance to no-one).
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
16.
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