90
acnce
Fulton was shocked and refused to do what he had been asked to do. Lindsay suggested that this was a crimin and that the Attorney General should institute a prosecution. It will be helpful to quote the Attorney General's evidence on this point: 71
144.
"Mr. Lucas:
Attorney General:
Mr. Lucas:
And did Lindsay suggest on that occasion that this was a criminal offence and you should institute a prosecution?
Yes, he did.
And what did you say to him?
Attorney General: I said would he report it to CAPO? The reason that I did that was because I had the impression that Mr. Lindsay was a very bitter man. I had also made enquiries as to his standing in Chambers with his superiors. I was of the view, rightly or wrongly, that he was trying to use me in order to pursue a vendetta against Mr. Quinn, because he thought, this was how I read the situation, he thought that if I lent my name to an allegation against Mr. Quinn, it would carry considerably more weight than his
Mr. Lucas:
name.
Did you tell him—what did you tell him if anything?
Attorney General: I asked him whether he was prepared to report the matter to CAPO himself and told him that, in my opinion, if he genuinely believed that a criminal (sic) that a criminal offence had been committed it was his duty to do it. And I was struck by the fact that he, a lawyer, said no, I'm not prepared to report it to CAPO."
At about that time, the Attorney General received a letter from Counsel prosecuting in the Lindsay's case (who is a member of the private Bar and was then Secretary of the Bar Association) saying, inter alia, that the Police Officers concerned deserved “high praise both for their industry and ability." This letter was addressed to Mr. Macdougall and copied to Quinn.
145.
On 24 November 1979, Lindsay wrote a letter to the Attorney General stating that "there should be little difficulty in proceeding against Chief Inspector Michael Quinn for offences of attempting to prevent the course of justice in relation to the false evidence supplied to the Court in my case, and for criminal intimidation and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice jointly with Superintendent Brooks in the Fulton matter.'
27
146. After receiving Lindsay's letter, the Attorney General asked Mr. Reid, who was in charge of SIU cases, whether there was any truth in Lindsay's complaints. Reid said no. I have no reason to doubt Reid's integrity and the truthfulness of his reply. The Attorney General also felt the barrister prosecuting in the Lindsay case would not have written the letter to Mr. Macdougall had there been any basis for Lindsay's allegation that Quinn was attempting to pervert the course of justice. He also noted that Lindsay stated at the end of his letter that he (Lindsay) did not “feel well enough to undergo further stress which action against Quinn would cause." As a result, the Attorney General took no action in relation to Lindsay's complaint.
147.
The Attorney General next heard of complaint about the SIU from Mrs. Elsie Elliott at a meeting on 20 December 1979. This meeting was one of the Attorney General's "familiarization talks" in order to meet and speak with a number of leading citizens so that he would understand Hong Kong better. They spent about one and a half hours together and discussed many aspects of the Government of Hong Kong. Towards the end of the meeting, the Attorney General asked Mrs. Elliott whether there was anything they had not covered which she might wish to talk about. Mrs. Elliott then referred to the law relating to homosexuality. While they were discussing this subject, Mrs. Elliott suggested that the effect of the existing law was to allow triads and blackmailers to operate at all levels of society. She also made strong criticisms of the Police, saying that many corrupt Police Officers remained in high positions. She also mentioned something to the effect the SIU were behaving improperly in asking a homosexual Police Inspector to "frame" another Policeman by introducing young boys to the latter to see if he took up the offer. The Attorney General asked her if the Inspector had done so, and she said he had refused to do so. 72 She said she would not disclose the name of the Police Inspector because she feared that he would lose his job.
148.
Although Mrs. Elliott did not mention Fulton's name, the Attorney General knew that she was referring to the same person because he had been told by Howard Lindsay about this a month previously. The Attorney General then told Mrs. Elliott that if she had information or evidence of improper conduct by the Police, she should report it to the CAPO. She reiterated that she was not prepared to do this, lest the man concerned might lose his job.
149.
Mrs. Elliott made allegations of homosexuality against one or more other named persons who, in her view, had not been prosecuted in the past because they were highly placed. However, she said she did not have any evidence or direct knowledge to prove such offences. She was concerned with the selectivity of the investigations and prosecution in relation to homosexual offences.
71
See Transcript pages 11555-11556.
72
Contrast Mrs. Elliott's evidence at Transcript page 11148.
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