It appears to be no exaggeration to say the Hebe Haven Yacht Club is in a state of crisis. Its future is hanging in the balance. Documents available to members leaked to SAI KUNG BUZZ by a concerned member show:
⬤ Commodore Peter Weiley will step down.
⬤ The General Committee (GenCom) is in suspension.
⬤ A cohort of GenCom members with a majority is blocking all major action by the Committee.
⬤ It is reasonable to believe this cohort is trying to wrest control of the Club.
⬤ Club Officers are concerned the cohort wants to run the Club for commercial purposes and private profit.
⬤ It is expected to all come to a head at the AGM on 10 December.
Factional fighting at Hong Kong clubs is the norm, but this brouhaha has reached an unusual level of seriousness. Starting with a letter to members by Hon. General Secretary Paul Arkwright, dated 1 November: “A lot has been happening at the Club recently and in my opinion not all of it is good.”
CHALLENGES, Mr Arkwright’s subhead: Some non-officer GenCom members have been voting as a bloc. (Separately they are identified as Wilson Choi, Tommy Tsoi, William Chan and Steve Chu.) It appears they have a majority and have not been acting in the best interests of the Club, Mr Arkwright writes. He gives examples of bloc voting harmful to the Club:
BLOCKING OF ESSENTIAL WORKS to rectify legacy issues such as boat racks and the Garden Bar’s canopy. Refusing to approve the Club Budget and Staff Remuneration Review. This could result in “the wholesale resignation of club officers”.
POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST and breaking club rules: One of the cohort, the GenCom members voting as a bloc, has set up a company for his own purposes called “Hebe Dragon Yachting Ltd”. Mr Arkwright said he understands this has not been disclosed to the Club. Officers at the Club are concerned this could involve conflict of interest and a possible breach of fiduciary duty.
An independent panel of former yacht club commodores has been formed to investigate concerns that the same GenCom member may be involved in “serious breaches” of bylaws about boat ownership and using the Club for commercial purposes. “These issues are very serious and involve a member who it is understood intends to put himself forward as a candidate for Commodore,” Mr Arkwright wrote. It is intended that the panel should report back shortly giving the GenCom time to consider its findings before the AGM.
COMMODORE REMOVES HIMSELF: In a notice to members a few days ago (28 November) Peter Weiley announces he is withdrawing his nomination for Commodore for “personal and health reasons within my family”.
NOTICE OF SUSPENSION of operations of General Committee dated 28 November: No decision is to be made by GenCom until after the 10 December AGM. GM Lisa Keatley will run the Club with assistance from officers in the interim. The GenCom suspension follows “serious complaints” from Messrs Choi and Tsoi, the notice said, against club officers (Peter Weiley, Mike Randall, Paul Arkwright, Don Johnson, Bridget Chan) and GM Keatley. It said these are “totally devoid of merit and in a legal sense vexatious”. The behavour of Choi and Tsoi does not reflect the standard of behaviour expected of club officers, the notice signed by “Club Officers” said.
EMAIL TO MEMBERS by Wilson Choi, Tommy Tsoi, William Chan and Steve Chu. The quartet accuse some members of unethical action “harming the reputation of the Club seriously”. They refer to the officers in the previous paragraph. The quartet threatens to take the matter to the police or the ICAC. Their email said Mr Choi was dining in the club restaurant on 22 November and found the above people in “an election project, suspected involved (sic) violation of rules of fairness in elections.” Their email said GM Keatley should face “immediate expulsion”.
Be the first to comment