The late Hong Kong tycoon Nina Wang had an affair with a feng shui master at the centre of an increasingly bitter legal tussle over her will, his lawyer said yesterday.
Tony Chan had a longstanding relationship with the eccentric billionaire, who died aged 69 of cancer in 2007, his solicitor Jonathan Midgley said.
“They had a long and intimate relationship, indeed they were lovers,” said Midgley by phone. Midgley said Chan had decided to reveal details of the affair after lawyers for the family, who dispute the will, said he had duped Wang into signing the document on a promise of everlasting life.
Chan found the comment “offensive” and so had decided to tell the full story in court on Friday, Midgley said.
“He did not know about the will at the time it was made and didn’t influence it in any way,” Midgley said.
He would not reveal further details about the relationship, only adding they had a close friendship from 1992.
Reports estimate Wang’s fortune to be more than 12 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.5 billion US).
Earlier this week, lawyers for the family had argued in Hong Kong’s High Court that Wang had been duped into handing over the cash, reports said. We say (Tony Chan) lied to the deceased by telling her that performing certain feng shui practices — including putting his name in her will — would ensure that she would live forever, or at least a very long time,” barrister Geoffrey Vos said in court.