From the South China Morning Post this week in: 1973
Early this week in 1973 we reported that 'the wife of a senior European policeman' had been ordered 'to give further written explanations about the wealth of herself and her husband'.
The report, a small item carried on the front page on June 1, named neither the policeman nor his wife, nor did it give any clues to his rank. It said his wife had been given four weeks in which 'to explain the financial background of the family', following their inadequate explanation offered in February. The report did not say how much 'wealth' was involved.
The report, which appeared without a byline and was attributed only to 'reliable sources', stressed that the policeman and his wife had not been charged with any offence. 'If they can satisfactorily explain how they got their fortune, no charges will be laid,' the report stated, implying that this assurance came from the attorney-general.
As we now know, Chief Superintendent Peter Fitzroy Godber fled Hong Kong for Britain, via Singapore, on Friday, June 8. A report that day said only that 'a senior police officer' had declined to answer the questions put to him by Attorney-General Denys Roberts. The report also said a second policeman was facing investigation for corruption.
Godber, who had been under investigation since 1971, was first identified publicly as the suspect senior policeman only on June 12, 1973, when a front-page report on his flight appeared under the heading, 'Interpol alerted'. This report, by Kevin Sinclair, included a photo of Godber and one of his flats in a government apartment block on Caldecott Road, near Cheung Sha Wan. [Godber was extradited back to Hong Kong in January 1975 and sentenced to four years' jail in Stanley on corruption charges.]
Tory MP Nicholas Ridley, on a week-long visit to Hong Kong from Britain, told a news conference that 'too much notice is being taken' of 1997 - the expiry date of the New Territories lease, then 24 years away.