Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Mr Venables
Charity Commissioners
St Alban's House
57-60 Haymarket
LONDON
SW1Y 4QX
нко
Telephone 270 3066
HICO 286/1
Your reference
Our reference
Date
10 November 1989
A 46.
SIR S K TANG
1.
CHARITABLE TRUST
We spoke at the telephone last week about Sir S K Tang's gift of £l million for charitable purposes in the UK. I am sorry it has taken so long to write to you. I should however be grateful for your views on how we at the FCO should now take this forward.
2. The attached papers contain the relevant correspondence between London and Hong Kong, and internal minuting within HKG. They may all be treated as UNCLASSIFIED. Correspondence with the Cancer Research Institute and the British Council is also included.
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 a 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.