Drug rehab school piles up a surplus
Most drug rehabilitation centres struggle to finance their programmes, but the Christian Zheng Sheng Association has generated strong cash flows from treating addicts. Much of this income - the surplus had exceeded HK$21 million by 2006 - is used to fund its activities on the mainland, according to the group's financial statements and newsletters.
The association runs Hong Kong's only private drug treatment school, the Christian Zheng Sheng College on Lantau. The college, on the Chi Ma Wan Peninsula, has been the subject of controversy over a proposal to relocate it to a vacant public school in Mui Wo to meet what Zheng Sheng says is rising demand for its services.
Zheng Sheng's report and financial statement for the year ending December 2006 show the association had income of just over HK$16 million that year. Fees for students' board and lodging accounted for about HK$11.74 million, donations about HK$2.77 million and sales at the group's fast-food shops - where students work - just over HK$714,000, the statement shows.
The association spent just over HK$12.13 million. Its biggest expenses were staffing (about HK$4.52 million) and unspecified donations (about HK$1.88 million). The group was left with just under HK$3.93 million for the year, which took its cumulative surplus to just under HK$21.46 million, the statement shows.
The college treats 120 students. They pay HK$10,665 a month for their food, lodging and treatment, its website says. That is HK$3,220 a month more than it costs to send a child to an English Schools Foundation secondary school (where a year's education costs HK$89,250 but pupils do not get board or lodging). It is also more than three times the HK$3,200 a month recovering addicts pay for treatment at Catholic charity Caritas' Tseung Kwan O centre or the HK$2,529 a month Operation Dawn charges for treatment at its centre on an island off Sai Kung.
Most who attend the college on Lantau cannot afford the fees, so the Social Welfare Department pays them. The department pays the association about HK$1 million a month.
School principal Alman Chan Siu-cheuk would not discuss association finances, saying a full statement would be made available this week.
'We have been told by our lawyers not to make any further comment,' he said yesterday. Last week, the Chinese-language Next Magazine published allegations about how the association's money is used on the mainland. In a statement on Friday, college supervisor Jacob Lam Hay-sing said it was considering legal action over the report.
Land Registry records show the association has bought four properties in Hong Kong for a total of HK$7.2 million, including a shop in Mui Wo.
The association publishes a newsletter, past copies of which show the extent of its mainland investments.
In a June 2006 edition, the association said about HK$8.4 million had been spent on 'mainland development projects' in the preceding three years. A July 2005 edition quotes Mr Lam as saying the association had spent HK$2 million to rent farmland in Shangshui county in the central province of Henan to build a farm for patients with HIV or Aids.
In a March 2005 newsletter, Mr Lam is quoted discussing a trip to Fuzhou , in the southeastern province of Fujian . 'We have signed to buy about 7,000 acres [2,800 hectares] of hilly area and three houses ... in Gutian county ... to prepare for operating the first centre in China to accept discharged prisoners who are homeless,' it quotes him saying.
A January 2008 newsletter says the association transferred HK$6.6 million to the mainland, HK$5 million of it to register a tourism company.
