5.
he was unwilling to contemplate such action. There was the added complication that all the cases depended on the evidence of the same few witnesses whose testimony would be unlikely to stand up to more than a small number of cases, even if they were willing to give evidence each time. The Attorney-General, therefore, decided that he should only bring prosecutions in a limited number of cases. The Governor of Hong Kong felt that it was essential to remove from the Police Service all those against whom there was a strong suspicion of corruption. Faced with the impossibility of doing this through the Courts, he sought the Secretary of State's permission to compulsorily retire, under Colonial Regulation 55, all those believed to have been involved in the Yau Ma Tei cases whom it was decided not to prosecute.
Colonial Regulation 55 states "an officer [in the Colonial Service 198j8ffi88 the pleasure of the Crown and the pleasure of the Crown that he should no longer hold it may be signified by the Secretary of State, in which case no special formalities are required". This Regulation is very seldom used and its use is normally restricted to cases where there are reasons why the evidence against the officer being dismissed cannot be made public. This normally means officers who are being dismissed on security grounds. In the Yau Ma Tei cases the Secretary of State decided that the use of CR55 was justified in order to take rapid action and maintain confidence in the Hong Kong Police. Each cas was carefully studied, both in Hong Kong and in the FCO, and the Secretary of State agreed to compulsory retirement in all those cases where there were sufficient grounds for believing the officer
to have been corrupt for it not to be in the public interest for
him to remain in the Police Force.
6. The dismissals were announced in Hong Kong on 7 April. They have not provoked any hostile reaction even from the newly formed
Hong Kong Junior Police Officers' Association. Public opinion generally in the Colony has welcomed this decisive action.
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