Society

HK feng shui master arrested for forging tycoon's will

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-02-04 16:17

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police have arrested the feng shui master at the heart of a multi-billion dollar battle for the fortune of the late tycoon Nina Wang, local media said, after a court ruled her will was likely forged.

Relatives of the late tycoon Nina Wang, sister Kung Yan-Fum (third from left), brother Kung Yan-Sum (fourth) and sister Molly Cong (fifth), smile at a press conference in Hong Kong Feb 2, after a local court rejected a feng shui master's claim for Wang's wealth. [China Daily]

Police picked up Tony Chan from his luxury home late on Wednesday evening and seized some evidence.

A police spokeswoman would only say that a 50-year-old man surnamed Chan had been arrested in Hong Kong's luxury mid-levels district on suspicion of forging a document. She added he was kept in police custody overnight and is still under investigation.

Police in Hong Kong tend not to name a suspect in full until formal charges are laid.

Chan had laid claim to Wang's fortune as her former lover, presenting in court a 2006 will naming him as the sole heir of her estate. But after a marathon probate hearing, a high court judge ruled this week that the will is a forgery, while saying it was unlikely the tycoon would have left Chan all her money.

Chan's will contradicted an earlier will drafted by Wang in 2002, leaving her fortune to the Chinachem Charitable Foundation, with links to her family.

Wang, known as "Little Sweetie" after a Japanese manga cartoon character and her giggly persona, was one of Asia's wealthiest women with a business empire which included the Chinachem Group, Hong Kong's largest private property developer. She died of cancer in 2007 aged 69.