8 May 1992
BY FAX
Mr J Smith-Laitten
British Trade Commission HONG KONG
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWIA 2AH
Telephone: 071-270-2657
SIR S K TANG BEQUEST
I am now
1. Thank you for your letters of 26 March and 4 May to Michael Lang in CRD, which have been copied to me. responsible for the S K Tang Bequest in Hong Kong Department.
2. I am afraid sorting out this bequest has been a lengthy business and we are still not out of the woods. We have been in communication with the Charity Commission since May last year about setting up a Trust Fund in the UK. Our dealings with them have been pretty frustrating, but we now have a different interlocater and it looks as if we can at last make some progress.
3. I am not yet in a position to answer fully the points raised in your letter of 26 March but here is a provisional report: -
Present Interest Earned: I will pass on your information about the type of account in which the bequest is held to our Legal Advisers for their advice on the implications of moving the money around within Hong Kong. As you know, our aim is eventually to move the funds to the UK.
b. Trust and Trustee: The setting up of a Trust Fund is being considered by the Charity Commission and our Legal Advisers. The suggestion that the British Council would administer the funds in the UK was discussed back in 1989. The general conclusion, based on legal advice, was that this would be unsatisfactory since it would mean having to hand over complete financial control to the Council and there would be no effective legal means of directing them to use the money in accordance with FCO objectives.
c. Cancer Research: The Institute of Cancer Research have kept in touch with us and are keen to receive their portion of the funds. I will raise your point with the Legal Advisers about whether we could change the amount they receive.
3.
I will let you know when I have some answers to these questions and hope to have news in the near future.
Sarah Haspel.
S J Haspel
Hong Kong Department
cc: Michael Long, CRD
YETAFB
SLM