A granddaughter of Khoo Teck Puat, once Singapore's richest person, and her husband are suing her brother, a senior counsel in Hong Kong, for unspecified damages for allegedly libelling them in two e-mails.
Dr Chua Siew Eng, clinical associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's department of psychiatry, and her husband, Dr Choy Khai-meng, filed their claim against Chua Guan-hock SC at the High Court earlier this week.
Dr Chua and the barrister are the daughter and son of Khoo's daughter Khoo Bee See and her husband, Chua Seong Siew, of whose estate Dr Chua is executor and trustee.
They are seeking damages for the alleged libel, an injunction stopping Chua Guan-hock from making defamatory statements that are the same or similar to those he had made, and an order for him to apologise.
The Khoo family was named Forbes' second-richest in Singapore in a list that included families, groups and individuals last year, and Khoo Teck Puat, its richest man in 2004, when he died aged 87.
Khoo was the biggest shareholder in Standard Chartered, with a 13.5 per cent stake.