Self-styled fung shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen (pictured) suffered a new setback yesterday when the Court of Appeal denied him leave to appeal to the top court over HK$330 million in unpaid taxes. The case centres on whether the Commissioner for Inland Revenue was justified in rejecting Chan's request for more time to challenge 25 tax assessments after a provisional one-month limit expired. The claim involves HK$631,784 in property tax and HK$330.24 million in profits tax, which allegedly arose from fung shui services that Chan performed for the late Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum. The ruling means Chan will have to pay the HK$330 million immediately unless he goes directly to the top court to ask for leave to appeal. Lawyers said Chan had not yet made a decision. The blow comes as Chan is fighting Chinachem Charitable Foundation's bid to have him declared bankrupt for failing to pay HK$80 million in legal fees arising from his defeated claim for Wang's estimated HK$50 billion estate. Chan won a judicial review of the tax case in the Court of First Instance but the decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in March. The court heard earlier that tax assessments were mailed in January and February 2010. Chan said he did not receive them and became aware of them only in April that year. Yesterday, Johnny Mok SC, counsel for Chan, argued that ruling in favour of the tax department meant his client was denied access to court and a fair trial. Mok said the case involved a huge sum of money and a one-month deadline for filing was extremely short. His client should have the right to take his objections to the tax claim to an independent tribunal. But Mr Justice Peter Cheung Chak-yau said this was not an issue in the lower courts and Chan could not rely on it now. Cheung, Mr Justice Michael Hartmann and Mr Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon refused Chan's application.
