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However, in fairness to Mr Jason Yuen, the Israeli Consu' General in Hongkong, Mr Reuven Merhav, did explain the situation insofar as the Israeli Government was concerned
and the matters relating to Mr Jason Yuea's receiving of scholarship in days of yore.
Mr Jason Yuen, in fairness to him, did make a secre declaration to MrA.K.Cħui (Gus, to his former friends) abou bis Lawrence Kadoorie Scholarship.
In fact, in fairness to Mr Jason Yuen, he did attempt to obtain a ruling from Gis as to whether or not there was o conflict of interest.
Gus is an old hand at this type of thing, well versed in matters the written word and the uttering of falsehoods and the like.
Gus's reply to the Jason Yuen missive was:
'Dear Mr. Yuen,
Thank you for your letter to me dated 24 Novem- ber (1987).
On the facts which are available to me, I am in no doubt that your scholarship at the israeli institute of Technology and your association with the Sir Ellis Kadoorie College Alumni Association bear no rolavanca whatsoever to the present issue concerning the preservation of the Synagogue, nor do they constitute any relation of Interest with either Lord Kadoorie or the Trustees.
t
I give this ruling both as Secretary for Municipal Services and as the Antiquities Authority."
One would have thought that matters germane to i determination as to possible conflicts of interests would have been matters which would have been addressed by the members of the Antiquities Advisory Board.
In fact, this is spelt out in a Minute of the Antiquities Advisory Board dated March 7, 1987.
It states at Page 18, (XI): '... that in future meeting, Members should declare an interest on any matters wheneve ? it is necessary; that the Chairman of the meeting would in tur • consult other Members to decide whether that membe should leave, stay with no right to vote, or stay as a fu participating member; that this should be conscientious chserved by all Members...'
So Mr Jason Yuen did not follow the procedures of th Antiquities Advisory Board.. which are statutory.
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But maybe he forgot some of the rules, regulations an! procedures?
Talking about the rules pertaining to the conduct of members of the Antiquities Advisory Board, one wond ɔrs, in view of the fact that Mr Jason Yuen is a recipient of
benefits from the munificent The Lord Kadoorie, if he would be in a position to accept a commission from his (former) patron?
This unlikely consideration was secretly raised in a letter
to his old mate, Gus.
The letter, dated March 3, 1987, Reference JY/AAB/ MSB:87(2), stated, among other things:
'Finally, in the unlikely event that should Lord Kadoorie happen to really ask me to assist in the reconstruction partly or wholely of the Synagogue in recognition of the Board's ex- pertise, I guess I would at most only be en- gaged as an independent consultant, for which I would seek your prior approval before I would accept it, although I personally beflave that i should be an honour to the Board If any of its member is being invited to offer en expertise in any field by the public...[sic]'.
Clearly, Mr Jason Yueu is not an expert in the English language in spite of his having attended the Israeli Institute of Technology -- though be raight be an expert in Hebrew (and of this TARGET has no expertise).
The letter meations also that members of the Antiqui. ties Advisory Board have expertise is the building of replicas of historical buildings.
To TARGET's knowledge, only one member of the Board has any knowledge of (a) Israel, (b) synagogues, and (c) building replicas of synagogues (or building replicas OI anything, for that matter).
The member is Mr Jason Yuen. Naturally.
Mr Jason måde his expertise known about 4 months later in a meeting of the Government with representatives of Swire Properties Ltd at which Mr Yuen was present in his capacity as Chairman of the Antiquities Advisory Board,
By the way, the meeting was kept secret from other members of the Antiquities Advisory Board at the time.
At the meeting, Mr Yuen was minuted as having an- swered questions raised about certain aspects of demol sh- ing the Synagogue and building a replica of it.
In answer to a question raised by a Mr Nick West, a senior official of Swire Properties Ltd, Mr Yuen is minuted as having stated the following:
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