Rice-cooker icon William Mong's widow sued for HK$280m

The estate of rice-cooker tycoon William Mong Man-wai is embroiled in yet another lawsuit, with two firms he founded suing his widow for HK$280 million she allegedly holds in trust for them, a High Court writ shows.

The widow, Wong Pui-fan, is Mong's second wife. He gave her HK$280 million via three cheques issued from his account with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, the writ says without specifying the dates on the cheques.

Now, Shun Hing Electronic and Shun Hing Electronic Trading claim she is merely holding the money in trust and want the court to order her to return it along with any income and profits derived from it.

They are also seeking the relevant accounts from her.

Mong was known as the "king of electric appliances" because he introduced Japanese household goods into Hong Kong after the second world war. He died at age 82 in July 2010, leaving behind an estimated tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars. Multiple lawsuits relating to the fortune have since arisen.

His first wife was Serena Yang Hsueh-chi. They married in 1958 and had five children, but divorced in 2002. Mong and Wong met in 1989. They wed in 2005 and had a daughter.