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Fortune-teller's legal bid for HK billions rejected
February 14, 2011

Hong Kong Hong Kong's Court of Appeal has rejected a claim by Tony Chan (pictured) to the estate of late property tycoon Nina Wang
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A Hong Kong appeals court Monday rejected a "thoroughly dishonest" claim by a bartender-turned-fortune teller to the massive estate of late property tycoon Nina Wang.

Famous for her outlandish dress and thrifty nature, Wang died of cancer in April 2007 at the age of 69, triggering a bitter feud between feng shui master Tony Chan and a charity controlled by her siblings.

Chan claimed to be Wang's lover and said a will in his possession showed that she intended him to inherit her real estate empire. But a year ago, the will was ruled a forgery, and the Court of Appeal also sided with the charity.

"This court has no hesitation in dismissing this appeal," Judge Anthony Rogers ruled, saying that Chan had "pursued a thoroughly dishonest case".

There was no immediate word from Chan on whether he intended to take the case to Hong Kong's court of final appeal.

The case grabbed headlines for months as Chan battled the eccentric billionaire's charity for an estimated $13 billion fortune that once saw the pigtailed Wang dubbed the richest woman in Asia.

Last February, High Court Judge Johnson Lam ruled that the will in Chan's possession was a forgery, upholding the Chinachem Charitable Foundation's claim to the estate based on another will.

Shortly after the ruling, Hong Kong police arrested Chan on suspicion of forging the will, later releasing him on bail of HK$5 million ($640,000).

But at Chan's appeal hearing last month, his lawyer said Judge Lam had misconstrued the evidence and was biased because he "disapproved" of a long love affair between Wang and the married fortune-teller.

The case has generated blanket media coverage in the former British colony, with Chan often cast as an unscrupulous charlatan who duped the billionaire.

Chan built a career advising clients including Wang on feng shui, an ancient Chinese belief system based on harnessing natural and spiritual energies.

The Chinachem fortune has been ill-starred for years.

Wang's husband Teddy, who started the Chinachem Group property empire, was abducted in 1990 and declared legally dead in 1999. His body has never been found.

His disappearance kicked off a heated legal battle between Wang and her father-in-law for control of the Chinachem Group. She eventually won the case just two years before her own death in 2007.

AFP