A witness to a 2003 will, which leaves the wealth of a multimillionaire who died the following year to a mistress, had felt uncomfortable after being told no provisions would be made for nine children, she said yesterday.
Lilian Chiang Suk-fook, a senior partner at the law firm Deacons, was speaking at a hearing in the Court of First Instance on a dispute involving the fortune of Chiu Yau-chuen.
Chiu died of a heart attack at the age of 55 in 2004, leaving behind three mistresses and 16 children. His ex-wife and mother of nine of the children, Wendy Wong Mei-ying, committed suicide in 2003.
The court has heard that Chiu had about HK$260 million, which included 33 properties, according to a mid-2000s filing to the Inland Revenue Department.
He is also rumoured to have had hundreds of foreign exchange assets and valuable taxi licences - worth HK$5 million each, according to the latest auction prices for city taxis.
Six of Chiu's nine children by his wife are now challenging the 2003 will under which Chiu left his fortune to his first mistress, Chiu Chung Kwan-ying. They say a will made in 1997, in which their father left his wealth to the 14 children then alive, should take precedence.
