HONG KONG, (Reuters) – The late Hong Kong billionaire Nina Wang wanted to have a child with the feng shui enthusiast laying claim to her inheritance, his lawyer said yesterday in a bitter legal battle with Wang’s family for her billions.
Wang, who died in April 2007 aged 69, was one of Asia’s wealthiest women whose business empire, including the Chinachem Group, the city’s largest private property developer, has been estimated to be worth at least $4.2 billion.
The existence of two conflicting wills, however, has pitted Tony Chan, her former lover, against her family represented by the Chinachem Charitable Foundation in a long-awaited probate battle that began on Monday.
“(Tony Chan) was the object of her love for the last 15 years of her life,” said Chan’s lawyer, Ian Mill, in his opening submission on the second day of the 40-day hearing.
“She wanted to have a child with (Chan)“ Mill added.
The Foundation’s lawyers said earlier there was “very strong evidence” that Wang’s signature on the 2006 will as she lay dying of ovarian cancer was a forgery. Instead it lays claim to a 2002 will in which Wang left most of her wealth to charitable causes.