TNAG-2245-FCO40-3228-Bank-of-Credit-and-Commerce-Hong-Kong-Limited-(BCCHK)-1991 — Page 67

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C

D

E

(iii)

(iv)

3.

documents which reflect FCO knowledge or awareness of BCCI affairs, and prepare a list of such documents (draft minute of instruction from me attached);

that all posts, except for those in the UK's Dependent

Territories, be instructed to conduct a similar

exercise and report to parent FCO departments (draft

telegram attached).

that the PUS suggests to the Inquiry that if they wish

to approach the UK's Dependent Territories, they

should write directly to the relevant authorities (see

paragraph 6 below).

The Secretary to the Inquiry has written to me with a

specific request concerning transmission of papers in

Luxembourg, Abu Dhabi, Pakistan and the Caymans, to which I

have replied separately (papers attached).

Background and Arqument

4.

When Mr Bayne and I discussed on 5 September the request

from the Secretary to the Inquiry for the FCO's cooperation, we

agreed that we could not be certain of identifying every

document which might be relevant to the Inquiry without a

search of all papers held by all departments and posts which

might have received material concerning BCCI. There is, of

course, a risk of overkill in this, and some posts will no doubt find it difficult, in resource terms, to conduct a thorough trawl. But given the nature of the request, there seems little alternative to asking posts to use their best

endeavours. We need to be satisfied, in London, that no

obvious stone has been left unturned.

5.

Since the Secretary's letter gave no clear cut off point, I

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