The Fok family saga

IT CAN'T BE EASY being super-rich tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung. As if he has not got enough on his plate being the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference vice-chairman, a major shareholder in STDM, Stanley Ho's Macau gambling outfit, and having to fight through the traffic to play tennis at the Chinese Recreation Club in Causeway Bay. On top of all that, all is not quiet on the family front.

Not only are there rumours in the Chinese press about the health of the marriage between 'Mr Sport', son Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, 54, and wife Loletta, a former Miss Hong Kong, but another son - Thomas Fok Man-fong - is engaged in long-running legal wrangles with ex-wife Emma Hung Kwok-wah, 45. At issue is the financial terms of their divorce settlement. Thomas, 50, the black sheep of the Fok family, made headlines back in 1991 when he was jailed for plotting to smuggle 15,000 AK-47s into the US and launder cash out of the country.

'It was a big shock - he told me he was in the UK - then I found out from the newspapers he was in prison in the US,' says Emma, who was a television actress before she married in 1985.

That was the beginning of the end as far as the marriage was concerned, she said, and left taking only her son Russell, now nearly 14, and her clothes in 1994. She waved goodbye to a life of luxury in one of the Fok family homes on the Peak - 54 Mount Kellett Road. One of Emma's old family friends was good enough to take her in and give her space in her house in Happy Valley. And there she has stayed as a guest for six years, with Russell, 15 dogs and a parrot for company.

Apart from keeping up appearances - she still looks as groomed and glamorous as ever - how does she fill her days? Doing charity work for Age Concern, going fishing with Russell and helping him with his studies. 'Rumours that I play mah-jong and shop in The Landmark all day are just not true,' she insists.

So what has she used for cash all these years since she left the Fok fold? She hasn't resurrected her acting career. 'What would the Foks think if I went back to acting? The Foks would lose face because it would show I was poor and asking friends to help financially.'