Witness accused of lies and invention

A key witness at the trial over Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum's estate was accused yesterday of lying about a document crucial to deciding the late billionaire's heir.

In a series of heated exchanges, barrister Ian Mill QC, for Tony Chan Chun-chuen, attacked the testimony of Winfield Wong Wing-cheung, alleging the solicitor contradicted himself and made up details about a document he witnessed for Wang three years ago. The paper, signed by Wang at a meeting on October 16, 2006, was different from a will that gave Mr Chan control of her vast fortune, the witness said.

Mr Mill accused him of inventing those details. 'Your [previous] answers have all been consistent with the documents being the same,' Mr Mill said in the Court of First Instance trial. 'I suggest the evidence that you just gave is a lie, Mr Wong.'

During his three days on the witness stand, Mr Wong said the signature and handwriting on Mr Chan's will looked like his own. Both documents were the same size with similar typeface, he said.

But Mr Wong never budged on his claim that Wang had signed what he called a 'partial will', which left more than HK$10 million, a fraction of the HK$100 billion estate, to a person surnamed Chan. Two paragraphs in the original document were 'more lengthy' than Mr Chan's will and there was no reference to leaving him the 'rest, residue and remainder' of Wang's fortune, Mr Wong said. Chinachem Charitable Foundation claimed Mr Chan used the signed document to forge Wang's will.

Mr Chan's legal team argued that had only been one document.