TNAG-1104-FCO40-1354-Allegations-of-corruption-against-the-police-in-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 8

PS/LPS

HICKR 382/5

4/12

13

HONG KONG : MP'S LETTER

Problem

A

&

1.

ct

No

1860 16/12 w/n

See HKK 382/2 1982

To reply to a letter from Mr Mark Wolfson MP to the Lord

Privy Seal.

Recommendation

2. That the Lord Privy Seal reply on the lines of the attached

draft.

Background and Argument

3.

Mr Wolfson wrote enclosing copies of two letters to him from

Mr Christopher Dawson, a retired senior Hong Kong police officer.

Mr Dawson is concerned about the corrupt image which the Royal

Hong Kong Police Force has in this country and the failure to

publicise that Force's own part in bringing corrupt senior officers

to book.

4. In the late 1960s and early 1970s corruption in the Royal

Hong Kong Police Force was widespread. In 1973, the Force arrested

a Chief Superintendent and a Superintendent, both Europeans, for

corruption. Mr Dawson was personally very much involved in these

The Chief Superintendent escaped from Hong Kong whilst on

bail and the outcry that followed led to a public inquiry into

corruption and subsequently to the establishment of the Independent

Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

arrests.

5. Mr Dawson maintains, with some justification, that little

credit has been given to the Police for these arrests and that the

general public does not know about the role the Force played in

bringing corruption into the open. He has been particularly

/annoyed