§ Mr. Bellasked the Attorney-General what is his policy towards the offering to named individuals of immunity from prosecution in cases of inquiries into disclosure of official information; what conditions he requires to be fulfilled in such cases before granting his consent to the offering of immunity; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Attorney-GeneralMy policy in this matter is to authorise an assurance being given to a witness that he will himself not be prosecuted only if I am satisfied that it is unlikely that he will otherwise be willing to give a full and truthful account of what he knows and that it is necessary. if the true facts are to be established or, as the case may be, if evidence is to be obtained which may permit proceedings to be instituted against others, that he should give that account. Such an assurance is always conditional upon his telling the truth.
It is often a relevant consideration that there is no prospect of criminal proceedings being instituted against him, whatever his own anxieties on that matter, or that there is no evidence against him upon which such proceedings could be founded other than what he himself may say.