A socialite rose from making 'tens of dollars a day' as an auxiliary policewoman to earning 'lots of money' by escorting wealthy men to dinner, a court heard yesterday.
Grace Lam Yi-lai, 42, recounted her working life while being cross-examined by counsel for her former live-in lover in a $7 million lawsuit over two residential flats and a car park.
The properties in Mongkok are registered in the name of Chau Shek-leung, the father of Ms Lam's two sons. She claims they were bought with her money and he held them in trust for her.
Ms Lam told the Court of First Instance her first two jobs after leaving school in 1976 were as a clerk and a salesgirl. She joined the auxiliary police force for a year in 1979. She was later introduced to some 'rich men' by a schoolmate's elder sister, who worked as a nightclub hostess. 'We would go to have meals with these rich men and [they] would give us lots of money,' she said.
Ms Lam, a former director of the Po Leung Kuk and Yan Chai Hospital, has testified that she carried out property transactions in the names of various nominees, including Mr Chau, to avoid tax. An Inland Revenue Department probe held her responsible for profits earned.
Ms Lam said yesterday that on July 16, 1996, in a room of the Panda Hotel, Tsuen Wan, Mr Chau signed a document to declare he was holding the properties in trust for her. He only signed it after she agreed to spend the night with him, she said.
