TNAG-0494-FCO40-559-Establishment-of-Anti-Corruption-Commission-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 25

Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1

101

C P J Woods Esq

Assistant Commissioner

C Division

Scotland Yard

SW1

Telephone 01-

REF

NEXT

REF.

Your reference

Our reference

Date

12 September 1974

1.

Dear R Woods,

Thank you for your letter of 11 September about Commander Howell. You should by now have received a copy of the telegram which I sent to Hong Kong. This was derived from your letter and from another one which I had direct from Dr Cole.

2. It is of course a pity that all this had to be ventilated in public. But I am sure the Governor is right in saying that there is a need for frankness to hold off undesirable publicity and speculation.

3.

I have talked all this over with the Hong Kong Commissioner of Police, Brian Slevin, who is at the moment in this country, and I hope we can now put this episode behind us. Slevin is still determined that he should find a suitable Head of CID from the UK, and tells me that the Governor supports him in this. It is encouraging that there is no breakdown in confidence; but we shall obviously have to consider Hong Kong's official proposal very carefully when it arrives, both in principle and in relation to any possible candidates.

Yours since

Alow Sh

A C Stuart

Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept.

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CONFIDENTIAL