Hong Kong government hits out at head of drug rehab facility after embezzlement denial

Hong Kong authorities have accused Alman Chan Siu-cheuk, the wanted principal of drug rehabilitation centre Christian Zheng Sheng College, of trying to use public relations tactics to shirk responsibility after he denied embezzlement allegations.

In response to his comments, a government spokesman said on Friday night that if Chan believed he was innocent “he should return to Hong Kong to accept the police’s investigation instead of sending electronic messages to his supporters to confuse the public”.

Chan, who lives in the United Kingdom, broke months of silence with a rejection of an accusation by Hong Kong police that he was involved in the theft of HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) in donations raised from a 2020 campaign for the college’s operations.

But he did not respond to police’s core accusation that the funds were channelled from the college’s parent, Zheng Sheng Association, into the personal bank accounts of three former directors of the charitable body, including himself.

Chan, along with the association’s founder, Jacob Lam Hay-sing, and another former director, Chan Yau-chi, has been wanted by police since January. Four other former directors were also arrested at that time in relation to misappropriation of funds and fraud allegations.

Alman Chan’s letter, seen by the Post on Friday, stated that he had never misappropriated funds the association’s former board of directors entrusted to him and that the money was instead used to expand its service scope outside Hong Kong.