Hong Kong Christian charity blames freezing of funds for school closure
- New board of directors of scandal-hit Christian Zheng Sheng Association wants to resolve crisis prompted by alleged HK$50 million fraud
The new board of directors of a scandal-hit Hong Kong Christian charity has argued that the freezing of its funds by police was behind the decision to suspend the operation of its boarding school for drug addicts.
The members of the board of the Christian Zheng Sheng Association released a statement on Saturday seeking to “clarify various doubts and misunderstandings”, after authorities slammed the organisation and wanted former directors allegedly involved in a HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) fraud.
“All the current decisions made by the board of directors of the association, including the suspension of the operation of Christian Zheng Sheng College, were painful and helpless decisions made by the unanimous resolution of the directors present based on the situation of funds being frozen, in arrears and blocked,” the statement, issued by the board’s chairman Lau Man-wo and vice-chairman Siu Yu-fat, said.
It said HK$4 million in the association’s bank account was frozen by police, while the government owed it HK$3.5 million in project fees and the Social Welfare Department also stood to pay it HK$600,000.
It said the organisation was willing to sell its properties to overcome the difficulties, but added police would have to release the funds so that “we can operate normally”.
The Christian Zheng Sheng College, established in 1985 to help drug addicts and operated by the association, said on Friday that it would close on July 7.