TNAG-0813-FCO40-1018-Allegations-of-bribery-and-corruption-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 24

تأ

錫恩

(MRS.) E. ELLIOTT.

TEL. 3-422414

OUR

REF:

YOUR

REF:

55. Kung Lok Road, Kwun Tong,

KOWLOON.

6.

Perhaps I should emphasise that what I primarily submitted to you in my letter was that adequate machinery should exist to sort out the issue of potential "frame-ups" and not so much as to investigate present individual cases.

7. I should further add that the visits of Mr. Sanguinetti and my- self were comparatively short, and we only had time to speak to a small fraction of the total prison population. We did note down some of the names and numbers of complainants, but not in all cases, because in Ma Po Ping, for example, the allegations were so numerous that it would have taken days to check all of them. In Lai Chi Kok, this being a reception prison, the constant movement of prisoners made it impossible to speak to almost 1000 inmates. Casual conversations, however, after assurances of confidentiality, in Lai Chi Kok Prison indicated that a large number of allegations existed there too.

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8. Since making the visits, I have received letters and visits almost daily, claiming "frame-ups", even in such serious cases as rape and murder. One cannot accept all as being genuine cases, but some bear the stamp of truth and follow a now familiar pattern.

9. In addition, I myself have a record kept over the past two years, showing a large number of alleged "frame-ups"; some of them I have already reported to you. They now number over 100, and many were acquitted after a lawyer was engaged, or after they were advised how to conduct cases in court.

10.

Although I feel unable to report openly the persons who approached or were approached by us in confidence in the prisons, I do feel I can invite your attention to two comparatively recent cases,

and some others (not for individual investigation), where allegations of "frame- ups" were made in open court or in public, to indicate the seriousness of the situation, and the fact that some lawyers and judges are aware of it. They are as follows:

a Criminal Appeal 76 of 1978 dated 22nd March, 1978;

Criminal Appeal 255 of 1978 dated 3rd May, 1978;

A Magistrate (as reported to me by a well-known barrister, not Mr. Sanguinetti) said that a policeman entered his court to ask for the knife being exhibited in the case, as the police needed it for another case in another court.

Cont./(d)