Yung Kee restaurant dispute: What next for Kams' golden goose?
A power struggle at a famous city restaurant provided absorbing courtroom drama but left those involved facing an uncertain future
When times were hard, brothers Kinsen Kam Kwan-sing and Ronald Kam Kwan-lai stuck together, getting by on the meagre earnings from their father's street food stall. But 60 years later their relationship could not withstand the strain of a vast inheritance.
The bitter family infighting is no doubt the last thing their father, Kam Shui-fai, founder of the legendary Yung Kee restaurant, would have wanted.
Despite the patriarch's care to leave his eldest son, Kinsen, and second son, Ronald, equal stakes of 35 per cent each in the family business, which is now worth an estimated HK$1.5 billion, a high-profile power struggle broke out involving finger-pointing, humiliation and unresolved accusations.
The situation deteriorated recently with matriarch Mak Siu-chun's public accusation that Ronald had caused Kinsen's death. Ronald's camp says the wrangling is down to her preference for Kinsen and an obsession with the Chinese tradition that the oldest son inherits the family wealth, despite Kinsen's questionable managerial skills.
Kinsen's side says the quarrel stems from the effort by Ronald and his children to edge Kinsen out of power. The elder brother's side says they have always wanted peace, but claim their efforts to call a truce were met with insults.
The true cause of the family feud is best known to them, but one thing that is certain is that the dispute erupted when the balance of power tilted.
