TNAG-0812-FCO40-1017-Allegations-of-bribery-and-corruption-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 51

葉錫恩

(MRS.) E. ELLIOTT.

TEL. 3-422414

OUR

REF:

YOUR

REF:

H. E. the Governor, Government House, Upper Albert Road, Hong Kong.

Da S.

16

3rd May, 1978.

55. Kung Lok Road. Kwun Tong, KOWLOON.

As you are aware, I undertook with Mr. A. J. Sanguinetti (Barrister-at-LAW), at the invitation of the Commissoner of Prisons, to see how the penal institutions in Hong Kong operate.

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Quite unexpectedly, other matters came to light which could not be ignored and which have wider ramifications. Information from prisoners, obtained with permission but in the absence of prison officers, and from other sources, is taken into account in what follows.

The vast majority of prisoners to whom we spoke admitted that they were guilty, wholly or partially, of the crimes for which they had been imprisoned; nevertheless, a good proportion claimed they had been wrongly convicted. After making due allowances for possible untruthfulness, I cannot but be concerned and apprehensive that I find different people from different penal institutions without any connection, making basically the same complaint about the method of frame-ups and their treatment at the hands of the police, and also about they way in which certain members of the magisterial bench dealt with their cases.

For convenience, I shall group what I have to say on these matters under three main headings:

I. Police Procedure, tactics and techniques upon arrest up to the

time that the accused first appear in Court;

Cont./II. The