The ex-wife of a descendant of the Wing On empire's founder has had her monthly maintenance payments tripled to HK$42,500 and won a lump sum of HK$1.5 million.
The Court of Appeal said the award was designed to encourage her former husband, Edwin Kwok, 35, the fourth generation of the Kwok family, to realise his full earning capacity. Kwok claimed to earn only HK$15,000 a month. Wing On is best known for its department store in Sheung Wan.
Explaining his decision to increase the monthly payments, Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung said the original HK$14,000 provision to 33-year-old Connie Ng, the ex-wife, was 'plainly too low'.
'The fact that he only managed to earn HK$15,000 per month ... is a puzzle that has never been satisfactorily answered,' Cheung wrote in his judgment handed down yesterday.
'In my view, this is certainly a case where the husband cannot hide behind his unacceptably low income at the time of the hearing to avoid his obligations to make periodical payments for maintenance.'
The decision came a day after the High Court awarded the former wife of a tycoon a divorce settlement of HK$1.2 billion.
