A court battle over the multibillion-dollar fortune of Nina Wang (龔如心), Asia’s richest woman, who left her money to a secret lover in a disputed will, was coming to a close in Hong Kong yesterday with lawyers on both sides delivering their closing addresses.
The case started in May, fascinating the public with tales of secret love, deception and mystical feng shui rites.
It centers on the will of pigtailed billionaire Wang, head of the ChinaChem (華懋) property empire, who died at 69 of ovarian cancer in 2007, leaving her entire fortune of US$13 billion to her feng shui master, Tony Chan (陳振聰).
During the 38 days of submissions, the court heard from the lawyer representing Wang’s family through the ChinaChem Foundation that there was “very strong evidence” that the will signed in 2006 was a forgery.
They claimed it was a feng shui prop only intended to prolong the life of Wang and was not a legal document.
They also argued that Wang, known as “Little Sweetie” because of her style of dress and pigtails, was critically ill with cancer at the time the document was drawn up and not well enough to sign a will.
On the other side, lawyers representing 48-year-old Chan said Wang had made a conscious and deliberate decision to leave the fortune to him.
They claimed he had been Wang’s lover for 14 years, meeting under the pretence of arranging sessions of feng shui, a traditional Chinese practice of divining the elements such as wind and water to ensure good fortune.
It was argued that Wang had wanted to bear Chang a child and had called him “husband.”
In a closing speech yesterday, Chan’s counsel said claims of the lawyers representing Wang’s family had distorted a “loving, caring and happy relationship” between his client and Wang.
The judge was expected to take six months to hand down a decision.
However, the saga is likely to be drawn out for years with most observers and those involved believing any decision is likely to be appealed.
The alleged affair between Wang and Chan is said to have begun two years after Wang’s tycoon husband, Teddy (王德輝), was kidnapped in 1990, never to reappear.
Wang inherited the empire after Teddy’s disappearance, confounding critics by building it up into a multibillion-dollar conglomerate.
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