TNAG-0687-FCO40-836-Disturbances-by-police-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 12

I

(a)

time during which was hoped that more

concrete evidence would surface so that

those who were really guilty could be identified and eventually charged. Juch a system would mean that quite a number of innocent people would be forced to undergo a long period of stress

unnecessarily.

Others had cautioned that ICAC could

easily have abused its power. The seemingly unlimited power granted to ICAC was deemed necessary in handling the Godber's case, for the purpose of collecting the required evidence that could sub-

stantiate Godber's guilt and hence his conviction. Lut Godber's case was very much a political game that was necessary at that time in order to uphold the credibility of ICmd. lowever, this could

now be treated as a precedent, and so extending the powers of ICAC beyond its

original terms of reference. ICAC investigation officers could seek to adopt the easier way out, to interdict a lot of people and then get them to

make confessions so that the task of

investigation could be made much easier.

For these various reasons, the public advocated that there

should be a reexamination of the power of ICC and its procedures for investigation.

Reactions of the tank and rile

7.

The Rank and Tile had indicated that they were not opposing the investigation of IJAC as such nor were they trying to obstruct justice, they only wanted a guarantee that only those officers, who had been proved to have committeu corruption by concrete evidence, were arrested and charged. They also pointed out that for those police officers who were either interdicted or convicted, their families were often

/terrorized