CODE 18-77
Reference
Mr Edwards Legal Advisers
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SIR S K TANG
GIFT OF £1 MILLION
1. I refer to Mr O'Brien's minute of 27 July which you passed to me on 3 August. I apologise that I have taken so long to deal with it.
2.
Conclusion
My conclusion, based on the papers supplied by HKD, and on the assumption in paragraph 7, is that a trust exists for the purposes agreed with Sir S K Tang in June 1986, but that
'es we should seek the advice of the Charity Commission on how to place the trust on a firm legal base.
3.
Background
On 10 March 1986, Sir S K Tang, a Hong Kong philanthropist, wrote to the Territory's Chief Secretary stating that he proposed to donate a sum of £1 million from which the accrued interest could be used for charitable purposes in the UK "at the complete discretion of HMG". Sir S K Tang indicated that he did not wish to become involved in setting up a new trust, and did not want the capital itself to be drawn on. It emerged from subsequent correspondence that he favoured using the interest from two thirds of the gift for funding scholarships for Hong Kong students to study in the UK.
(If possible, he wished this to be administered by the British Council.) The interest from the remaining one third would be donated to a medical trust, such as Cancer Research. In response to his wish, expressed shortly thereafter, to hand over his gift, the Hong Kong Government proposed that the money should be accepted and paid into a sterling deposit account in Hong Kong until such time as decision had been reached as to what to do with it.
4. The FCO agreed with this course of action, and Hong Kong Government records show that Sir S K Tang handed over a cheque for HK $11,685,500 (ie £1 million) to the Chief Secretary on 10 June 1986. The Hong Kong Government subsequently confirmed that the Chief Secretary had accepted Sir S K Tang's gift on HMG's behalf, and that the money had been placed in a sterling account awaiting the FCO's instructions. The money is currently held in Hong Kong.
5.
There followed a long period of consultation within HMG as to how the money should be handled. Informal approaches to the Treasury revealed that if the money was accepted by HMG as a gift it would go straight into the Consolidated
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