The $100b answer
Patsy Moy
February 2, 2010
The Standard
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=93973&sid=26913547&con_type=3&d_str=20100202
And the HK$100 billion goes to …

The answer will be announced in the High Court today when Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon delivers his ruling in the “Battle of the Wills” - a drama that gripped Hong Kong last year with claims of secret sex plus a staggering sum of money and bitter words.

Justice Lam has now decided on rights and wrongs of claims for the fortune left by Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum, which center on two wills allegedly signed by the property magnate known as “Little Sweetie” and who died from cancer at the age of 69 in April 2007.

One will gives the fortune estimated at HK$100 billion to the Chinachem Charitable Foundation, which she set up and is now managed by her siblings.

The other will makes fung shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen the beneficiary. Chan, 50, claimed Wang was his lover, gave him billions of dollars and wanted to have his baby.

Chinachem claims money given to Chan was for fung shui services, and even if there was more to the relationship he was a “toy-boy” or, as one of Wang’s family saw it, a eunuch in the court of the Empress Dowager.

Whatever the decision, the battle is unlikely to end today. It is almost certain the loser will go to a higher court.

But neither Chan nor Wang’s siblings are expected in court today when Justice Lam delivers a written judgment of more than 300 pages.

In the countdown to the verdict, Chan issued a statement saying: “I am not particularly nervous. I am taking the case at ease and will respect the judgment, no matter what the result will be.”

And a spokesman for Wang’s younger brother, Kung Yan-sum, said last night he is taking it easy. But Kung may talk to the media after studying the judgment, he added.

The 40-day probate hearing for the late billionaire’s assets started in the High Court on May 11 last year. Thirty- six witnesses testified in a hearing that ended on September 21. Justice Lam took four months and 10 days to decide on what was said in court.

During the hearing, Chinachem’s barrister, Benjamin Yu, said there were two possible scenarios concerning the will submitted by Chan: it was a fung shui will and meant to be burned to prolong Wang’s life; or the document signed in October 2006 by witnesses Winfield Wong Wing-cheung and Ng Shung-mo - and which Wong believed contained a HK$10 million gift to a man surnamed Chan - was the fung shui will and that a second document containing their signatures came into play later.

Yu also said that if the court was to find Chan’s will was not a fung shui will, this did not mean it was not a forgery. He also questioned the validity of the will as Wang may have been delirious when she signed it.

Chan’s counsel, Ian Mill, insisted Chan was Wang’s clandestine lover - as shown by the gifts she gave him, including her signature pigtails. During the hearing, Justice Lam questioned the necessity for Wang to make large payments to Chan if she intended to leave him her entire estate.

Hong Kong Court to Rule on Nina Wang’s Estate Tomorrow Morning
Debra Mao
February 1, 2010
Bloomberg.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601127&sid=ak4AlrrqRe90
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Hong Kong’s High Court will issue a ruling on who is entitled to the estate of late billionaire Nina Wang tomorrow following 40 days of probate hearings last year, according to the Web site of the court.

The judgment will be given at 10 a.m. local time, it said.

Tony Chan, who provided geomancy services for Wang, says she left him her estate in a 2006 will after they became lovers and had a relationship for more than a decade. Chinachem Charitable Foundation, formed by Nina and representing members of Wang’s family, claims to be the legitimate beneficiary, based on a 2002 will.