Trial of feng shui master accused of forging Nina Wang's will begins
The trial of fung shui guru Peter Chan Chun-chuen who is accused of forging the will of Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum opened in the Court of First Instance on Friday.
The trial of fung shui guru Peter Chan Chun-chuen who is accused of forging the will of Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum opened in the Court of First Instance on Friday with the prosecution outlining the case against him.
In addition to the forgery count, Chan is charged with one count of using a false instrument, which relates to him using the allegedly forged will to induce others to accept it as genuine between April 4, 2007, and February 3, 2010.
Chan is accused of forging the will in Wang’s name between October 15, 2006 and April 8, 2007. The will was dated October 16, 2006.
The 53-year-old has pleaded not guilty to both charges. Peter Chan was known as Tony until March, when he renounced geomancy for Christianity. The prosecution addresses him as “Tony Chan”.
Prosecutor David Perry QC, a senior English criminal barrister, told the Court of First Instance that the early accounts Chan made to claim the validity of a will, which he said made him sole heir and beneficiary of the billion dollar estate, did not make sense.
Instances that Perry said were suspicious included Chan’s saying that the late Chinachem chairwoman had reminded him not to leave any fingerprints on the envelope when she handed him the will.
He also pointed out Chan said his wife “was not very interested” when he showed her the will, which could have led to him becoming one of the richest men in Asia.
“The defendant created false documents purported to be the last will of the late Nina Wang,” Perry said on Friday. But he said that Wang did not write the date and signature on the will and that the signatures of witnesses, Chinachem senior employee Ng Shung-mo and solicitor Wong Wing-cheung, were also forgeries.
Wang, who was Asia’s richest woman, was seriously ill in late 2006 and died of cancer in 2007.
