Hong Kong Freemasons angered by cash controversy 'cover-up'

It is an organisation synonymous with secrecy, but one trying hard to change its image.

However, confidential documents from the inner sanctum of Hong Kong Freemasonry - seen by the Sunday Morning Post - appear to show the task may be a tough one.

Some of the brethren have broken ranks to reveal what they describe as a cover-up over the misappropriation of HK$530,000 from Zetland Hall, the "craft's'' austere and understated headquarters in Mid-Levels.

In August last year, these Freemasons claim staff discovered a senior bartender responsible for making bank deposits had removed funds from eight months' worth of bar and food cash sales. He was later found to have been routinely delaying bank deposits for months - since at least 2009 - and was fired.

The matter was reported to police by the hall's general manager the same month, but, the sources say, trustees decided to withdraw the complaint to police weeks later after the money was returned by the bartender. The bartender confirms he repaid it.

According to meeting minutes seen by the Post, the chairman of Zetland Hall's trustees, John Li, instructed them in an e-mail dated October 18, 2012 to "handle this in a low-profile manner". "Trustees should simply give [lodge members] the facts verbally. If asked in open lodge, the reply should simply be that the matter has been appropriately dealt with. Hopefully, we can avoid unnecessary gossip," he added.

Some of the most influential men in history, including British royalty, have been Freemasons. In Hong Kong, members have included the city's most important figures. According to retired bankers quoted in a previous Post investigation, promotion to senior positions within the major banks in Hong Kong long depended almost as much on Masonic membership as actual ability, and the same view was held by others within the police force.