The death of Asia’s richest woman two years ago has turned into a posthumous drama, with a feng shui master fighting a family charity over her estate.
Closing arguments are set for today in a court battle that mesmerized Hong Kong, with a glimpse into the private world of tycoon Nina Wang (龔如心) and her alleged love affair with a bartender-turned-feng-shui adviser.
What emerged during 40 days of testimony was a secret life of eccentric activities, from playing with model helicopters to burning money and digging holes for good luck.
“We played every day. We shared many activities every day,” feng shui adviser Tony Chan (陳振聰) said in court in June. “Feng shui was one of our interests, but we also liked to play with model helicopters. We cooked together. We traveled together and we went to the countryside together.”
Dubbed “Little Sweetie,” Wang was famous for her girlish outfits and pigtails. Her husband, Teddy Wang (王德輝), disappeared after he was abducted in 1990. He was declared dead in 1999.
Nina Wang inherited his Chinachem Group after an epic eight-year legal fight against her father-in-law.
She built the company into a major property developer with office towers, shopping malls, hotels and apartment complexes throughout Hong Kong.
She died of cancer on April 3, 2007, at the age of 69.
Two wills have emerged. A July 2002 will bequeaths her estate to the Chinachem Charitable Foundation Ltd. The other, dated October 2006, was put forward by Chan, who contests that Wang left him her fortune instead.
It is not clear how much Wang’s estate is worth. In 2007, Forbes magazine ranked her as the world’s 204th richest person, with a fortune of US$4.2 billion.
Defending his claim to Wang’s estate, Chan testified that he and Wang met in 1992.
He said he gave her a head massage, which turned into body massage and later nightly stays at Wang’s living quarters in Chinachem headquarters.
At the time, Chan had just married another woman.
Describing his relationship with Wang as husband and wife, Chan said they spent a lot of time playing “married couple games.”
They went to a suburban temple to seal their relationship in front of a god, Chan said.
“We purchased some wine, we drank there and informed the god ... that we were together,” he told the court.
The 49-year-old Chan said he had advised Wang, who was 23 years older than he, to burn money and dig holes at her properties to bring good luck.
Lawyers for the Chinachem foundation suggest Chan was Wang’s “boy toy” and only interested in her money.
In court testimony, Wang’s two younger sisters said Chan was subservient to Wang, likening the relationship to that of a dowager and a eunuch.
The lawyers say Chan’s 2006 will is a forgery — a prop for a feng shui ritual that is supposed to extend life.
At the time, Wang was gravely ill with cancer.
A feng shui expert testified that the will was written in a format similar to petitions used for rituals and it should have been burned during the ceremony.
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