Billionaire Nina Wang's will did not give charity a 'free hand', court hears

The Chinachem Charitable Foundation does not claim to have a "free hand" in the use of Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum's HK$83 billion fortune even though it was given as a gift, its lawyer told the Court of Appeal yesterday.

The foundation is challenging a Court of First Instance ruling that it held Wang's billions only as a trustee, charged with carrying out charitable functions according to the terms of Wang's 2002 will.

The hearing is the latest in a series of court battles over the legacy of the colourful Wang, who died in 2007, and husband Teddy Wang Teh-huei. It started with a probate case over Teddy Wang's fortune after he was declared dead in 1999, nine years after he was kidnapped and never seen again. Fung shui master Peter Chan Chun-chuen was jailed last year for using a forged will to try to claim Nina Wang's billions.

Frank Hinks QC, for the foundation, yesterday argued that Wang only intended to guide how the foundation, as a corporate charity, would go about its business, and that she did not impose a trust.

The will made the foundation the sole owner of Chinachem Group, one of the city's largest private developers, and said it should set up a "Chinese Prize" similar to the Nobel Prize. It said a managing organisation should be set up for the foundation, consisting of the UN secretary general, China's premier and Hong Kong's chief executive.

Hinks said the fact the foundation was an absolute beneficiary, rather than a trustee, did not give it a "free hand" to use the funds; a clause in Wang's will imposed an obligation on the foundation which was the "price to be paid for the gift".

The clause stipulates the foundation must provide for Teddy Wang's late parents, his siblings and nieces and nephews, and support Chinachem's 3,000 staff and their children.